Interesting, but the truth is Carter fully supported the Shah. After he abdicated, the US encouraged the military to stage a coup against the Ayatollahs. Khomeini made it very clear from the beginning that he was opposed to foreign exploitation of Iran’s oil.We sowed the seeds for the rule of the Ayatollahs. In 1953, MI6 & the CIA overthrew Mohammad Mosaddegh, who tried to nationalize the Iranian oil industry. He wanted to use the oil money to build a secular, democratic nation. BP had secured a 60 year deal to fix the price of oil on extremely favourable terms. (Intentional Brit spelling.) They weren’t about to give that up without a fight. Thanks to the help from the CIA, American oil companies were given a piece of the action.I would approach Rouhani with extreme skepticism. He has little real authority, nor did Ahmadinejad. Maybe the replacement of the bellicose Ahmadinejad with the more temperate Rouhani signals a willingness to negotiate.The Ayatollahs aren’t crazy or stupid. They are under a great deal of internal & external pressure. They’re more interested in staying in power in Iran & retaining influence in Iraq, Syria & Lebanon than competing in a nuclear arms race with Israel.
Interesting, but the truth is Carter fully supported the Shah. After he abdicated, the US encouraged the military to stage a coup against the Ayatollahs. Khomeini made it very clear from the beginning that he was opposed to foreign exploitation of Iran’s oil.We sowed the seeds for the rule of the Ayatollahs. In 1953, MI6 & the CIA overthrew Mohammad Mosaddegh, who tried to nationalize the Iranian oil industry. He wanted to use the oil money to build a secular, democratic nation. BP had secured a 60 year deal to fix the price of oil on extremely favourable terms. (Intentional Brit spelling.) They weren’t about to give that up without a fight. Thanks to the help from the CIA, American oil companies were given a piece of the action.I would approach Rouhani with extreme skepticism. He has little real authority, nor did Ahmadinejad. Maybe the replacement of the bellicose Ahmadinejad with the more temperate Rouhani signals a willingness to negotiate.The Ayatollahs aren’t crazy or stupid. They are under a great deal of internal & external pressure. They’re more interested in staying in power in Iran & retaining influence in Iraq, Syria & Lebanon than competing in a nuclear arms race with Israel.