Given the current relationship between the US and Iran, it is hard to imagine that the two countries were ever friends. However, before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran and the US were the closest strategic partners in the Middle East. After the Second World War, the US and Britain began to increase their influence in the region after seeing the rich potential of petroleum products in Iran.

At that time Iran was ruled by Reza Shah Pahlavi, who was presented by Western powers as a ‘modern king’ to suit their interests. The US provided Iran with advanced weapons and technology, in return for which US and British companies had a complete monopoly over Iran’s oil.

Because of Iran’s vast natural resources and strategic location, the US considered it a strong bulwark against the Soviet Union.

However, this friendship was limited only to the ruling class; The common Iranian people were inwardly outraged at the king’s extravagant lifestyle and the handing over of their country’s priceless wealth to foreigners. It was this internal discontent that laid the foundation for future violent rebellions.

Return to power of King Pahlavi

A turning point in Iranian politics occurred in the 1950s, when the nationalist leader Mohammad Mossadegh emerged as prime minister. He understood the sentiments of the Iranian people and took the historic decision to nationalize the country’s oil industry, which ended the dominance of the British ‘Anglo Iranian Oil Company’. While this move was critical to Iran’s economic independence, it was not acceptable to Western powers. Consequently, in 1953, the American intelligence agency CIA and the British MI-6 jointly overthrew the democratically elected Mossadegh through ‘Operation Ajax’.

This event not only stifled democracy in Iran, but also restored King Pahlavi to power with dictatorial powers. After overthrowing their democracy-loving leader and imposing a king for foreign interests, the seeds of deep distrust and hatred towards America were sown among the Iranian people. This incident painted the US as an ‘imperialist power’ in the eyes of the Iranian public, the impact of which has not been erased for decades. And eventually became a key factor in the 1979 revolution.

Modernization campaign

After regaining power, King Pahlavi launched a modernization campaign in Iran called the ‘White Revolution’ with the full support of the US. Although this campaign led to some improvements in Iran’s infrastructure and education, its main objective was to assimilate Iranian society into Western culture. Alcohol, gambling, and Western fashion were openly tolerated in Iran’s cities, much to the chagrin of Iran’s fundamentalist and traditional Islamic society.

This event not only stifled democracy in Iran, but also restored King Pahlavi to power with dictatorial powers.

To suppress those who opposed his rule, the king formed a brutal intelligence agency called ‘Sawak’, which disappeared and tortured opponents in prison. In the midst of this cultural and political repression, the exiled religious leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini succeeded in awakening religious and national sentiments against the king and America. Audio cassettes and pamphlets sent by Khomeini from abroad served to fan the flames of revolution among Iranian youth and the religious community.

‘black friday’

The king’s luxury and Western fanaticism had so captivated the common people that they were ready to die at a single call from Khomeini. Towards the end of 1978, the mass movement in Iran took a massive form. On 8 September 1978, the King’s army opened fire indiscriminately on thousands of peaceful protesters who gathered in Zaleh Square in Tehran, known in history as ‘Black Friday’. After hundreds of people died in this massacre, instead of stopping, the movement became more violent and decisive. Factories across the country shut down, oil production stopped and millions of people took to the streets to chant ‘Down with America’.

Finally, as the situation became impossible to control, on 16 January 1979, Raja Pahlavi was forced to flee the country forever. Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Iran in triumph from France on 1 February 1979, 15 days after the king fled. A crowd of more than 5 million people descended on Tehran’s airport to the tomb to welcome him, heralding the end of the monarchy in Iran and the official start of the ‘Islamic Revolution’. It changed not only Iran, but the entire Middle East balance of power forever.

US diplomats arrested

The situation in Iran after the revolution was very complicated. Meanwhile, after the United States granted asylum to former King Pahlavi for cancer treatment, the Iranian people feared a 1953-like coup again. On 4 November 1979, a group of angry Iranian students scaled the walls of the US Embassy in Tehran and took 52 US diplomats and staff hostage. The demand of the students was clear – the US should return the fugitive King Pahlavi to Iran so that he could be hanged in a people’s court.

To suppress those who opposed his rule, the king formed a brutal intelligence agency called ‘Sawak’, which disappeared and tortured opponents in prison.

The incident caused a major stir in world diplomacy and damaged America’s reputation. The US imposed economic sanctions on Iran, calling it a violation of international law. This ‘hostage crisis’ led to a complete breakdown of diplomatic relations between the US and Iran, which have not been restored to this day. The incident established Iran as America’s greatest adversary on the world stage and opened a new chapter in a decades-long conflict in the Middle East.

‘Operation Eagle Claw’

To free the hostages by force, then US President Jimmy Carter ordered a highly secretive and risky military operation on 24 April 1980 called ‘Operation Eagle Claw’. State-of-the-art US helicopters and C-130 cargo ships were used in this campaign. However, an American helicopter collided with the ship and exploded due to a severe sandstorm and technical error while landing in Iran’s Tabas desert. In this accident, 8 American soldiers died on the spot, while the remaining soldiers were forced to flee, leaving their aircraft and equipment in the desert. The humiliating defeat of America, which is considered the world’s superpower, gave a great political blow to the Carter administration. Ayatollah Khomeini, on the other hand, claimed that the Iranian revolution was being protected by divine powers, calling it ‘divine intervention’. As a result of this failed campaign, Iran’s confidence increased, and serious questions were raised within the United States about the capabilities of its military and government. This made the hostility between Iran and the US even deeper and more personal.

Carter’s embarrassing defeat

The American hostage crisis lasted a total of 444 days, one of the longest hostage crises in modern history. This crisis led to Jimmy Carter’s crushing defeat in the 1980 presidential election and Ronald Reagan’s victory. Iran used the crisis as a political weapon until the end. Interestingly, Iran released the hostages only after Jimmy Carter left the presidency and Ronald Reagan was sworn in as the new president.

The ‘hostage crisis’ led to a complete breakdown of diplomatic relations between the US and Iran, which have not been restored to this day.

Within minutes of Reagan’s inauguration on January 20, 1981, the plane carrying the hostages took off from Tehran. For this, through the mediation of Algeria, the United States agreed to release about 12 billion dollars of frozen assets of Iran and not to interfere in Iran’s internal affairs. This incident sent a message to the world that diplomatically Iran had succeeded in bending the US. What it proved is that Iran is no longer the ‘puppet’ state of old, but has emerged as a rebel power playing international politics on its own terms.

The basic structure of the Islamic Republic

Post-revolutionary Iran completely transformed its governance and adopted the original form of an ‘Islamic Republic’. Here the concept of ‘Wilayate Faqih’ was applied, wherein supreme authority rests in the hands of a religious leader. In this system, the President and the Parliament are elected, but the final decision-making authority rests only with the Guardian Council and the Supreme Leader. For its internal and external security, Iran has created a powerful army called the IRGC, which is directly accountable to the Supreme Leader.

This same military apparatus is currently challenging the influence of the US and Israel through ‘proxy wars’, providing economic and strategic support to various Middle East countries such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza and Houthi rebels in Yemen. This political and military structure of Iran acts as a shield to protect it from external interference. The US considers this revolutionary army more dangerous than Iran’s regular army because its reach and influence extends far beyond Iran’s geographical borders.

Western media often portrays Iran as an anti-women and backward society. However, social statistics after the revolution also present a different and positive picture. During the reign of King Pahlavi, the female literacy rate in Iran was only around 35 percent, but today it has risen to nearly 99 percent. More than 60 percent of students in Iran’s universities are now women. Despite religious fanaticism, Iran has made significant progress in science and technology.

For example, the US had to wait until 2021 to have its first female vice president in its history, while Iran appointed Masumeh Ibtekar as vice president in 1997. This shows that Iran, while maintaining its Islamic values, has also invested heavily in modern education and women’s empowerment. However, there is still a great deal of debate and internal conflict over the issue of personal freedom and dress, which has drawn international attention from time to time.

A long battle for supremacy

To conclude, the war between Iran and the US is not just a simple dispute between two countries, but a protracted battle for identity, self-respect and geopolitical supremacy. While the US still wants to see Iran return to its favored regime of 1953, Iran is determined to maintain its independence and establish itself as a regional power.

Iran’s geographic position and control over the ‘Strait of Hormuz’ has a huge hold on the world’s oil supply. Therefore, no matter how much pressure and sanctions the US has imposed on Iran, it has not been able to completely bend Iran. In today’s multipolar world, Iran is expanding its ties with China and Russia, challenging US dominance. In the future, the direction of the relationship between these two countries will determine the direction of peace and economy not only in the Middle East, but also in the world. This conflict is not only a legacy of the past, but also an important link in the New World Order of the future.

(Amgai is a retired soldier of the Nepali Army.)