In the late 1970s, the Americans had very little knowledge about Iran, the Shah, Islam or even terrorism. However, all that changed on November 4, 1979, when radical Iranian students took over the US Embassy in Tehran and held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days.
This Iranian revolution took down President Jimmy Carter and it also made Americans aware of a part of the world and tensions within it. This incident changed everything and it remains a part of politics in America and Iran even today.
Carter initially did try negotiating with the Iranian government. However given the fact that it was Carter who had invited the Shah of Iran to the United States, the students who were in control were not inclined to let him off the hook. Its was Ayatollah Khomeini who was calling the shots and he opposed any form of negotiation. Carter waited months and with no solution in sight, he decided to launch a military rescue of the hostages.
The operation known as Eagle Claw used warships that included the US Nimitz and USS Coral Sea, which patrolled the waters near Iran. The failed attempt resulted in the death of one Iranian civilian and the accidental deaths of eight American servicemen.
Iranian officials engaged in negotiation and the Algerian diplomats acted as middlemen. Negotiations continued into early 1981 during which Iran demanded releasing frozen Iranian assets and also lifting the trading embargo. An agreement was made and the hostages were finally released on January 20 1981.
It is over 40 years now, but relations between the US and Iran remain tense.
Three years after the conclusion of the crisis, Iran was designated as a State Sponsor of Terrorism by Washington. The US pursued a strategy of containment, but the same failed due to the repercussion off the illegal US invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the more recent military withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Since the crisis ended a lot has changed in the West Asia. Despite the distance between the US and the West Asian countries, the US has ensured that it is present in every part of this region. Through the 20th century strategic interests including a longstanding rivalry with the Soviet Union provoked a variety of interventions in the West Asia.
Over the years, the US made itself a key player in the West Asia by using diplomatic, economic and military power.
The US had generally a positive reputation in the region at the end of World War I. After the war the US sent a commission to the region to ask the local population what political arrangements they would prefer. All of them had sought complete independence, but also added that they wanted supervision by the US instead of the British.
Following the Iran hostage crisis, the US backed Iraq’s Saddam Hussein in the war against Iran. This was the time when Iran was the biggest threat to the US in the West Asian region. However an invasion by Saddam into Kuwait in 1990 angered the US and this eventually led to the Gulf War. This was seen as an effort being made by the US to control more of the region’s oil. The US bombed Iraqi targets during the Gulf War. The US economic embargo of Iraq intended to force Hussein from power and keep Iraq from rearming and further developing weapons of mass destruction. This had a devastating effect on the living conditions of the people of Iraq. Many in the Gulf nations hold this grudge against the US.
The US claims that American interests lie in promoting the creation of democratic governments around the wold. The US has very often supported oppressive regimes in West Asia. For instance, the US continued its support to Saudi Arabia at a tie when there were allegations of gross human rights violations. It also backed regimes in Turkey which suppressed the Kurdish autonomy and the Egyptian government of Hosni Mubarak where an Egyptian American was jailed for encouraging voter participation.
The US also supported coups in Tunisia to depose President Bourguiba. It also backed Algeria when the Islamists appeared close to winning a national election and winning it fairly.
The American interest in the region is not motivated by the pursuit of fossil fuels alone. The complicated relations with Iran, Iraq and the Gulf states have often resolved around oil and specifically to ensure supply at a reasonable cost.
The American foreign policy agenda has been around oil since Standard Oil’s 1936 discovery of massive oil deposits in Saudi Arabia.
As of 2023 the US has diplomatic relations with every country in the West Asia except for Iran and Syria. Relations with Syria were suspended following the 2012 outbreak of the civil war.
Today the influence of America in the Greater West Asia has reduced largely and more significantly since the Arab Spring. The current priorities of the US in West Asia would include the solving of the Israeli Palestine conflict and limiting the spread of weapons of mass destruction among the regional states with a particular focus on Iran.
Comments