Stopping the Militant group ISIS in Syria and Iraq would benefit both the US and Iran.
And there is a lot of speculation about how or if that could work.
For example, the US could use airstrikes against ISIS targets to make way for ground attacks
by Iranian troops.
Or the US could simply provide aid, information and international support, while Iran does
most of the military work on their own.
All of which are reasonable plans…
if the US and Iran can trust each other.
The question is: given the history between these two countries...can they?
Well, these two nations have a long and complicated history full of poor decisions and bad blood
on both sides.
For starters, in 1953 the US, in conjunction with the UK, organized a coup in Iran.
This replaced Iran’s publicly elected Prime Minister with military rule under a US-friendly
Shah (“SHA”).
They did this in part to stifle Russia’s growing influence in Iran and partly to protect
British oil interests in the area.
The Iranian Prime Minister at the time was considering nationalizing Iran’s Oil Industry,
somet hing that didn’t sit well with the West.
For the next 26 years, the US provided aid, support, and even nuclear technology for Iran
and the Shah.
It was a period of prosperity for Iran, but there was a growing disconnect between the
Shah and the people.
Various student movements, liberal groups and Islamic organizations resented the fast
pace at which the Shah was westernizing and secularizing Iran and the influence that the
US had over him.
They also resented the Shah’s increasingly oppressive, corrupt and extravagant government
and his mismanagement of assets, which led to shortages and inflation.
In 1979, the conflict reached a boiling point and the Shah was overthrown.
Power eventually landed in the hands of The Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
He established the Islamic Republic of Iran as we know it today and their relationship
with the US hasn’t been good since.
On Nov 4th of that same year, protesters stormed the US embassy in Iran and the Iranian government
held 52 Americans hostage for more than a year.
The last of the hostages were released on Jan 20, 1981.
Since then, the US has backed Iraq in a war against Iran, a war in which the US also attacked
Iranian oil platforms and ships and mistakenly shot down an Iranian passenger jet.
Iran has funded or sheltered Western hating Islamic terrorist groups, held US citizens
in Iran against their will, moved forward with a Nuclear weapons program against objections
from the US and the international community and lied numerous times to international inspectors
about the status of that program.
For which the US and the UN have sanctioned Iran.
The US has also conducted numerous covert acts against Iran, including a successful
joint cyber-attack with Israel that briefly crippled Iran’s nuclear program.
It’s been a 35-year period of lies, distrust, covert actions and open aggression.
The chances of the US and Iran working together for a short period against a threat like ISIS
is a possibility.
But considering the history, it would most likely have to be an extremely limited engagement
that doesn’t fully require the two sides to trust each other.
To find out more info about the middle east and the conflict over there, please click
on our ISIS playlist.
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