In December 1979, there was an
advertisement by Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. for Trainee Journalists. The
application was to be accompanied by a 1000–1500-word essay on a current
subject. Iran was transitioning then from a monarchy to an Islamist dictatorship.
I picked that as the topic for my essay, which is reproduced here. I got
selected to be trained as a Sub-Editor, but my parents quashed the idea!
ABOUT OIL AND TROUBLED WATERS
Please to
remember
The Fifth of
November
Gunpowder,
Treason, and Plot…
Who does not know about the plot hatched by the
immortal Guy Fawkes? Only this time it happened on the Fourth – sans the
gunpowder – but equally startling all the same. The “Guy” was, of course, the
venerable Ayatollah Khomeini, who lent great support to the trapping of the
diplomats in the US Embassy at Teheran. There were more than 60 people there.
Five non-Americans had since been released, as also five white women and eight
black men. The students who held the Embassy hung on to the 49 others, threatening
to put them on trial as spies and to execute them if the Shah was not
extradited.
The Shah was then in the most unenviable of
circumstances in New York’s Cornell Medical Center, suffering from multiple
medical complaints, including cancer. He handed over his mantle to Shapour
Bakhtiar on December 30, 1978, and left for Mexico. That was only the
beginning. Mr. Bakhtiar was ousted from power in February 1979, and the Mehdi
Bazargan government took over the reins. Dr. Mehdi Bazargan was a slightly left-of-centre
intellectual, who supported the Khomeini movement to topple the Shah. He did
not, however, reckon with the bloodbath that followed – 650 men (an official
count) had been tried in kangaroo courts and executed. He neither foresaw the
Kurds’ agitation for autonomy nor the pro-Islamic fervour sweeping Iran.
Khomeini was vested with “Supreme Powers”. He was given the authority to name
the Armed Forces Chiefs; declare war; and veto candidates for the Presidency.
Unofficial results showed that the draft constitution, which would make Iran a
theocracy, garnered 99% approval. The all-powerful Ayatollahs would be
empowered to commute sentences imposed by the courts. These developments would
make any sane bystander shudder, but the raid on the Embassy takes the cake!
The action defies any logical analysis. There have
been certain factions in Iran opposing these trends – the Azerbaijanis under
Ayatollah Shariat-Madari, the Kurdish and Baluchi rebels, and the Sunni
minorities of Iran. In fact, certain factions of the Army turned back to the
middle-class conservatism for which Shapour Bakhtiar stood. These voices of
protest were, of course, being silenced by Khomeini who hoped to cash in on the
violent anti-Shah and anti-US feeling running high in Iran. The Security
Council issued the order for the release of the hostages twice – Mr. Sergio
Palacios De Vizzio of Bolivia, the Council President, and Dr. Kurt Waldheim,
the UN Secretary-General, had both issued this order on behalf of all the
members of the UN. The World Court lent its voice to the appeal, but the
impasse continued. Mr. Bani-Sadr proved amenable to negotiation, suggesting
that – if the Shah left the US territory; if the UN agreed to a trial of his
crimes; and if the Shah’s wealth were remitted to Iran – the release of the
hostages might be secured. He paid for his liberal attitude by having to step
out of the Foreign Minister’s shoes, to make place for Mr. Sadegh Gotbzadeh.
The impasse still continues – long after Christmas – despite The US economic
freeze on Iranian assets worth $8 billion, the presence of a US fleet of 21
ships at 24 hours away from the Straits of Hormuz with 135 US carrier planes
aboard, the threat of a US naval blockade, and the reality of an economic
blockade by some allies of the NATO. The Shah left for Panama on December 15.
In fact, even the Panama government has shown itself willing to consider
extraditing the Shah, if Iran could bring an exact and convincing description
of his regime within 60 days, provided, of course, that the hostages were first
released. Even this has failed to soften the Iranian stand.
Anti-US feelings seem to have set aflame the oil-rich
tract of Iran. Dr. Kurt Waldheim had hinted at the possibility of bringing the
Shah to book. Perhaps the Iranians were not wrong in demanding that. They
accused the Shah of massacring 100,000 people (the Shah admitted to about 2000,
which is bad enough); of setting the Savak or Secret Police to use inhuman
methods of torture; and of amassing huge amounts of wealth. The Shah estimates
his wealth at $50–100 million; whereas, Mr. Bani-Sadr places it at $30 billion.
Libya and Albania even lauded the attack on the Embassy. The US Embassy at
Tripoli was attacked. Saudi Arabia passively supported Iran’s anti-US stance by
refusing to make good the shortage of oil that America would experience as a
result of the stoppage of Iranian oil. Economic pressures are mounting up in
the West. Iran’s decision not to repay its international loans amounting to $15
billion has hit many Western banks. Chase-Manhattan of New York was the first
to announce that Iran had defaulted on its $500-million loan. This loan was
raised by a major international consortium of banks, which included the
National Westminster of UK, the Swiss Bank Corporation, and the Toronto
Dominion Bank.
It is clear that many multiplier effects are going to
follow from Khomeini’s action. The trend of the economic multiplier has been
outlined, but it is the political multiplier that is more threatening. The
Soviet Union is maintaining an ominous silence, and there is worrisome
awareness that a treaty of 1921 allows that “in case any third countries tend …
to make Persian territory a base for military attacks against Russia … the
Soviet Government shall have the right to sends its army into Persia, in order
to take the necessary military steps in its own defence”.
In 1941, the Soviet Union was instrumental in getting
the stable-boy-turned-Emperor Reza Shah deposed, and his son, the present Shah,
installed on the throne. US interest in the oilfields soon grew, and the US was
getting 40% on what was formerly an exclusively British monopoly. Hence, when
Mossadegh – who was very Socialist in his views – came to power in 1953, the CIA,
under Kermit Roosevelt, lost no time in toppling him and reinstalling the Shah,
complete with the Savak. Perhaps this accounted for the anti-US wave in Iran.
Another disturbing circumstance is the fact that
Afghanistan is turning out to be Moscow’s Vietnam, with the successive
executions of Noor Mohamed Taraki and Hafizullah Amin, who were both Marxist
and pro-Russian. The latest comer, Mr. Babrak Karmal, probably differs from his
predecessors only as regards the affection for the Russians. This does not
alter the fact that the nationalists are staging a huge pro-Islamic protest
against the Russian presence there. The echoes of this nationalist uprising can
be heard in Pakistan, where Zia is trying to hold off the Sword of Damocles
under the shield of an “Islamic Bomb”.
It looks as if Macbeth’s witches have been creating a
new concoction – anti-Americanism, pro-Islamism, the Shia–Sunni conflict at
Mecca, Russians, Marxists, and the Islamic Bomb being the major ingredients.
Instead of pouring oil on troubled waters, they are adding oil or fuel to the
fire in the Middle East and chanting, “Double,
double, toil and trouble; fire burn and cauldron bubble”.
See Note at
the bottom.
The Iran hostage crisis, also known in
Iran as Conquest of the American Spy Den, was a diplomatic crisis between Iran
and the United States. Sixty-six American diplomats and citizens were held
hostage for 444 days (November 4, 1979, to January 20, 1981), after a group of
Iranian students, who were supporting the Iranian Revolution, took over the U.S.
Embassy in Tehran. President Carter called the hostages "victims of terrorism
and anarchy," adding that "the United States will not yield to blackmail."
The Shah left the United States in December 1979 and was
ultimately granted asylum in Egypt, where he died from complications of cancer
on July 27, 1980. In September of 1980, the military of Iraq invaded Iran,
marking the beginning of the Iran–Iraq War. These events led the Iranian
government to enter negotiations with the U.S., with Algeria acting as
mediator. The hostages were formally released into United States custody the
day after the signing of the Algiers Accords, just minutes after the new
American president, Ronald Reagan, was sworn into office.
Considered a pivotal episode in the history of Iran–United States
relations, in Iran, the crisis strengthened the prestige of Ayatollah
Ruhollah Khomeini and the political power of those who supported theocracy and
opposed any normalisation of relations with the West. The crisis also marked the beginning of U.S.legal action
resulting in economic sanctions against Iran, further weakening ties between
Iran and the United States.
