Introduction
The greed for power and competition for resources has resulted in many deaths of innocent civilian. This has been quite notable in Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan. Oil has been the main reason for attach in Iraq and also the potential invasion in Islamic republic of Iran. Americans has always made efforts to have its interests dominate in the two countries due to their possession of great oil reserves. They have used all means even in complete disregard of human rights to have their say.
This is evident when they attacked Iraq despite disapproval from united nation. This was after the fact that United Nations was not able to get evidence of production of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Despite this fact they stood by their allegations and invaded Iraq. Even through their attack on Afghanistan may have seemed justified after they were attacked by al-Qaeda whose basis was in Afghanistan they could have targeted individual terrorist group and not the entire country of Afghanistan.
Now it is evident that there is war in waiting in Iran. This is because of frequent threats by Americans Islamic republic of Iran. Here we are going to look at historical background to conflicts. Invasion of America in Afghanistan and Iraq will also be discussed. Finally, we will also look at theoretical construct explaining the possible invasion of Iran by America.
The overthrow of Mossadegh
Discovery of the potential for availability of oil reserves in Iran in 1908 has resulted to its great interest among other foreign countries (Knapp 1). It is also evident that the history and development of Iran has its roots in the discovery of oil reserves. The governance of Iran has not been a smooth one. This is because it has been associated with various leaders getting to power by acts of overthrowing the contemporary leadership.
For instance Reza Khana grabbed the leadership of Iran in 1921. Reza Khana went ahead and declared himself as a hereditary monarch of Iran (Knapp 1). This made him to bear the title of shah. He established a very strong dynasty and changed the former name of the country into presence name Iran. During the Second World War the other friends of Iran were not very comfortable with Shah (Pitney 1).
This was as a result of his close connection with Nazi of Germany. The relationship of Shah with Nazi of Germany was seen to pose a serious threat in the course of war since Germany was not a friend of Soviet Union. This was because Iran was a very instrumental member of Soviet Union in the Second World War.
This was due to the fact that Soviet Union was to rely on Iran in the major supply of the oil which was to be used as a source of energy. Iran was also supposed to provide major link to the supply of various items needed in the course of Second World War two Soviet Union (Simpson 1). This made the Soviet Union to occupy western region of Iran.
This invasion of western region of Iran made shah to give up on the leadership of Iran in the month of September in 1941. Immediately Mohammad Reza Pahlavi too over the throne after his father was forced to abdicate (Simpson 1).
The Soviet Union soldiers who had occupied the north western Iran declined to get out of the borders (Contreral 1). Instead they started supporting some parts of Iran to separate them from the larger Iran. Some of the regions were the northern province of the Azerbaljani and Kurdish. In these regions the Soviet Union troops facilitated the local peoples to become rebellious to the leadership (Cunningham 1). This made governance very hard for Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
The united states of America together with the united nation come to the rescue of Mohammad, the leader of Iran. This was done by the acts of United States of America putting a lot of pressure on the Soviet Union members to withdraw the soldiers across the borders of Iran. Also the United Nations put very strong force to the soviets to remove their troops in the borders of Iran (Maljoo 1). This successful and the troops were withdrawn from Iran.
The leadership started oppressing the revolts from Azerbaljani and Kurdish regions. This was seen as acts of punishing the local people who had joined efforts with the soviet troops to fight the leadership of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. In around 1951 the then prime minister of Iran, Mohammad Mossadegh become very popular. His name was also commonly pronounced as Mossadeq. He was a great nationalist but he was not a communist (Kuntzel 1).
He managed to nationalize anglo-iranian Oil Company. This company had been in the ownership hands of British government. Mossadeq gained very strong public support from the people of Iran. He was said to be the first democratically elected leader of Iran (Eston 1). This huge public support for Mossadeq made Mohammad Reza Pahlavi to flee to Rome. Even though
Mohammad Mossadegh was not a communist, United States of America uncomfortable with him. The other country which was not happy with Mohammad Mossadegh was United Kingdom.
These two countries felt too insecure with the presence of Mohammad Mossadegh as a leader of Iran. Despite the fact that Mohammad Mossadegh did not believe in communism the United States of America and the United Kingdom were afraid of him. This is because they thought that his connection to tudeh which was a communist party was good for their interests in Iran.
The main reason was that his links with communists will make Iran cooperate with eastern bloc (Iman 1). The eastern bloc was not allies of both United States of America and United Kingdom. This hatred towards Mohammad Mossadegh made United States of America and the United Kingdom organized for him to be overthrown. In 1953 a coup was organized against Mohammad Mossadegh leadership despite the fact that he was democratically elected by the people of Iran.
The prime minister was arrested by armed forces which was loyal to shah. Mohammad Reza Pahlavi came back from Rome after Mossadegh had been overthrown (Eston 1). Since shah had been challenged by Mossadegh, he started practicing increased authoritarian leadership. This was highly motivated for his extreme fear of future opposition to his leadership.
American responses in the leadership of shah
The Americans were great hypocrites in their support for king Reza shah Pahlavi. Americans fought very hard for what they termed as independent Iran under governance of young king Reza shah Pahlavi (Stevenson 1).
They were hypocritical because they only feared for their interest. This made them to organize for ousting of Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegn. They did so thinking that Mossadegn was going to take Iran closer to Moscow. This could have affected their personal interests in Iran. The United States provided military equipment to king Reza shah Pahlavi government (Mostowfi 1).
This equipment helped so much in the developmental posterity of in Iran. This was highly facilitated due to the fact that Iran had steady flow of oil in their soils. This was evident when President Carter of United States of America teased king Reza shah Pahlavi in Tehran where they were taking a state dinner, by calling him “an island of stability” in the violent Middle East.
This was a big ridicule to king Reza shah Pahlavi leadership. This was despite the fact that his governance was being face with a lot of internal opposition. A lot of local activists saw him as being against Islamic religion (Lewis 1). This made locals to have very little support and faith in his leadership. The worst happened in 1979 when he fled to Egypt after the opposition intensified.
He was diagnosed with cancer and American was very reluctant to allow for his entry in United States of America for treatment. This was despite the fact that they had shown a lot of support to his leadership. The then president of America president Carter feared for the lives of Americans who had been held hostage in Iran (Eston 1). This made him to reluctantly allow shah entry to America for treatment since he was no longer a priority to America.
The Islamic revolution
The Islamic revolution began in the early 1978. Islamic revolution basically means the events which led to the ousting of king shah Reza Pahlavi (Noll 1). This also involves the activities leading to the entire collapse of the Iran’s monarch leadership. Also this Islamic revolution is associated with replacement of monarchy with Islamic republic.
This leadership was to be under cleric Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. It was in January 1978 when mass demonstrations began (Lewis 1). These demonstrations were directed against the leadership of shah. The continued strikes and frequent demonstrations which occurred in between august and December in 1978 destabilized the operations of the entire country. This marked the end of shah rule and his Pahlavi dynasty in Iran.
The main reason for these demonstrations was the fact that shah leadership had focused more on the westernization and modernization. This made him to face a lot of opposition from the cleric leaders who felt that he was against Islam. Also the Iranians felt that shah was introducing some cultural values which were foreign to them. In some instances shah the first is said to have instructed his private police to tear down cloths of women (Martsching 1).
This was allegedly because they were on religious cloths which shah objected very strongly. Things become worse for shah and this made him to run in exile in Egypt. This happened in the mid January of 1979. His departure to exile left leadership vacuum in the country. This vacuum was immediately filled after the lapse of two weeks by Ayatollah Khomeini.
It was said that his return from exile attracted millions of Iranians who were very happy that their true leader had come back. This huge gathering was in Tehran where people received him back. The troops who were loyal to shah were strongly fought by rebels and guerrillas (Lewis 1). The loyal troops were defeated and the entire royal regimes came to an abrupt end.
This occurred in the month of February in the year 1979. In April 1979 there was an election and also referendum. In the election they voted for Iran to become an Islamic republic. They also concurrently endorsed theocratic constitution in which the supreme leader of Iran was established constitution endorsed by Iranians (Eston 1). This supreme leadership was awarded to cleric Khomeini in December of 1979. This was a happy moment for the people of Iran.
Rise of mullahs
Mullahs regime started as a result of the war between Iran and Iraq which begun in 1980. Soldiers of Iraqi broke in to Iran for the part which had the oil refinery and the war between Iraq and Iran was started (Simpson 1). Mullahs developed extra ordinary weapons to fight the Iraq army which had invaded.
Examples of such weapons were nuclear weapons and atomic bombs. In 1989 some of the Iranians raised complains and criticized the Mullahs’ leadership. They emphasized on the powers of the supreme leader as they were stipulated in the constitution of the mullahs regime that one must not go against them. The supreme leader should not be placed above the law because this will affect the stability of the country’s politics.
Due to the poor leadership there were empty promises, small monopolies, unlawful prohibition, misuse and mismanagement of properties and funds of the government, expensive cerebrations and nepotism while on the other hand the basic needs of the society which are very important were ignored (Pitney 1).
This led to break down of mullahs in three factions led by different leaders. This made the factions to start competing for ministerial positions in the cabinet which was to be announced soon. Some people called for riots and demonstrations because of the oppression by mullahs and poor leadership.
They went on to influence the education sector on the first day of the academic year in order for them to oppose the mullahs’ regime. This included professors, teachers and students in both university and schools who were influenced to strike. The bombs which were used by the terrorists in Iraq were produced by Iran mullah regime and exploded on a daily basis leaving innocent people dead.
The leader of the mullah regime sworn that the powers of the world would not end their atomic and nuclear processes. Iranian people called for more demonstrations and riots because they wanted improved standards of living and freedom. After the United States of America attacked Iraq the Iranian agents immediately moved to Iraq.
Another organization was formed to fight against mullah regime. This organization was called people’s mojahedin organization of Iran (PMOI) or Mojahedin-e khalq (MEK). The Iraq people wanted Iran to be stopped from interfering with its government and to end the fight (Pitney 1). MEK wants to make Iran a democratic country and is supported by more than half of Iraq people. The challenge it’s facing is because it’s blacklisted by European Union as having connections with terrorism.
Although the European court had disqualified this blacklisting and ordered the secretary of Britain to strike it out because they found it incorrect it has not yet been removed from the blacklist. United States of America is requested to intervene so as to stop violence in Iraq and push Iran and its agent out of Iraq (Eston 1). The people of Iran want the west a regime to change and stop entertaining the mullahs.
Contemporary Iran under Ahmadinejad
It was in the month of June 2005 when Mahmud Ahamadinejad was voted as the president of Islamic republic of Iran (Eston 1). This came as a big surprise to many people within Iran and the international community. The fact was that many people did not expect him to win the election. Despite this fact many saw him as among the survivors of basiji.
This it was seen that the real fighter for Iran was now governing Iran. Mahmud Ahamadinejad was elected during the hard times when there were mass strikes and demonstrations against the then government. During this era workers were demonstrating on various grounds.
The most critical for striking by the workers was poor salaries and wages (Eston 1). Also the working conditions were very unfriendly to most of Iran people. During this campaign Mahmud Ahamadinejad managed to portray himself as an advocate for the poor and working class.
This worked very well to the advantage of his election. The reason was that the working class wanted somebody who could listen to the problems. This was because the employers were mistreating the workers and also offering them poor salaries and wages. The entire scenario was evident in the mere fact that workers could not be allowed to form their independent workers unions who could in return protect them from exploitative employers.
The poor also voted for Mahmud Ahamadinejad with hope of better lives under his leadership (Eston 1). After his election as the president of Islamic republic of Iran the mass workers protests reduced. But after sometime there have been a lot of issues with the teachers’ strikes. In this case the teachers are protesting against poor salaries and poor working condition.
The teachers want the government to harmonize the salaries in the public service and also the private sector. The president has also had a lot of problems with the United States of America and also the Israel. The recent debate which is the main issue is the project on nuclear energy and weapons. This is causing sleepless nights to United States of America and their entire governance.
American invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq
The United States of America began war with Afghanistan on the month of October 2001. This was after invasion of United States of America. The historical attach on Americans occurred on the month of September 11, 2001. The main suspect was identified. This made president George w bush to declare Osama bin laden as the main suspect for the bombing which occurred on the aforementioned date in American soils (Eston 1).
By then, the aforementioned main suspect was being hosted in the comfort of Afghanistan nation. The ruling regime was given orders by United States to hand over Osama bin laden for trial along with other key Taliban official members. This move was highly desisted by the ruling leadership because they argued that American was not able to provide evidence linking Osama bin laden with the said attach.
The bush administration in response to the position of taken by Afghanistan argued that they were not able to differentiate the terrorists and the government which supported and protected terrorist groups like Taliban. And above all Afghanistan were treating Osama bin laden as their quest hence need to accord him hospitality and asylum. They also went further and suggested that if evidence was provided then Osama bin laden should be tried in an Islam court in Afghanistan and not handing him to the hands of Americans.
Then, the bush administration decided that Afghanistan should suffer the fate of protecting Osama bin laden and his allies (Pitney 1). The Americans initiated an operation enduring freedom. This operation was also undertaken alongside with United Kingdom who came in the aid of Americans. The main reason for invading Afghanistan was to destroy al-Qaeda and their affiliate Taliban sympathizers and above all to bring Osama bin laden in to book.
The operation carried aerial bombing in order to accord support to the forces on the ground. They managed to kill some high ranging officials who were working very close with Osama bin laden. At first they also managed to overthrow the Taliban regime but since then they have regained in strength. The most unfortunate thing was that they did not succeed in capturing Osama bin laden (Martsching 1).
The invasion of Iraq by United States of America was mainly through allegation of possession of weapons of mass destruction (Eston 1). This claim was highly denounced by president Hussein of Iraq. The debate on whether Iraq was producing weapons of mass distraction became an international debate. This made United Nations to send their inspector to find out whether the allegations were true or not. The report from this United Nations inspector suggested that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction (Pitney 1).
This was the main reason why the United Nations did not give a go ahead to United States of America to invade Iraq. Despite the lack of evidence for mass destruction in Iraq America went ahead and attached Iraq. There were also other reasons which were giving for the said attach. One of them was the allegation that Iraq used to offer financial compensation to the families of suicide bomber of Palestine (Badeeb 1).
Also the Americans argued that the president Hussein administration had no respect for human rights. It was said that the democracy was not there, thus United States of America was trying to instill democracy in Iraq. The invasion succeeded in capturing President Hussein. He was tried in the court of law in Iraq by the already set transition government by United States of America (Badeeb 1). Later he was hanged.
Theoretical construct to conflict
The origin of conflict can be explained by use of various theories. In our case, the most appropriate theory will be the political theory. In this theory, power is the central figure in the conflict formation (Cunningham 1). Here the main focus is placed on the entire usage and exercise of power by different states and countries.
The power is said to have its origin in various forms. The forms taken by power may be economic, political, cultural and military (Contreral 1). Conflict in this case will originate in the process of various groups and states competing for power with one another.
Here various groups will be in pursuit for power and the resources. It can be generally said that the main motivation for conflict in this there is entirely material oriented. This theory is very significant in predicting the possible war between Iran and United States of America. Historically it is well understood that America has always used all means to have its interests taken care of in Iran (Cunningham 1). United States of America has always struggled to control the oil exploitation in Iran.
It is said that in the leadership of shah United States of America had taken full control of oil companies in Iran. This was the main reason why they always defended the shah leadership because he was taking care of their interests. The main differences started after the overthrow of shah leadership in 1979 (Cunningham 1). This was the historic Islamic revolution. The regime which got in to the power had little regard for America up to date.
United States of America has continued to place sanctions against the Islamic republic of Iran. The worst is happening recently with the proposed plan to start nuclear energy production by the Islamic republic of Iran (Contreral 1). This is very enough pretence of Americans to invade Iran any time soon. This is because it has happened with Iraq and Iran is not in any way an exception.
Conclusion
From the above, it is evident that United States of American will very soon than expected invade Islamic republic of Iran. This is because the very same circumstances in which they invaded Iraq have shown in Iran. The proposed plan by Islamic republic of Iran to enter into nuclear energy is enough reason for Americans to attach.
This is because United States for their selfish desire to control all economies of the world cannot allow any other nation to come to self reliance. Their main mission is to ensure that no single country exist comfortably without begging for their aid.
In most cases they use this strategy to get their interests addressed and thus they cannot succeed in a country that is self sufficient. In this case we have generally seen historical background to conflict. The invasion of America on Afghanistan and Iraq has also been outlined. Finally we have also seen the theoretical explanation for possible invasion of Islamic republic of Iran by United States of America.
Works Cited
Badeeb, Saeed. “Washington report on middle east affairs”. 1993. Web.
Contreral, Ricardo. “Competing theories of economic development”. 2006. Web.
Cunningham, William. “Theoretical framework for conflict resolution”. 1998. Web.
Eston, Alasaka. “Quotes from president Ahamedinejad of Iran”.2009. Web.
Iman, Amil. “The bomb, Iran’s mullahs and doomsday”. 2007. Web.
Knapp, Stephen. “Death of the Aryan invasion theory”. 2006. Web.
Kuntzel, Matthias. “Ahmadinejad’s demons”. 2006. Web.
Lewis, Bernard. “Islamic revolution”. 2003. Web.
Maljoo, Mohammad. “Worker protest in the age of Ahmadinejad”. 2009. Web.
Martsching, Brad. “Iran-Iraq war and waterway claims”. 1998. Web.
Mostowfi, Hedayat. “The key to defeating the mullahs of Iran”. 2007. Web.
Noll, Gregory. “ICE case studies”. 2006. Web.
Pitney, Nico. “Think progress”. 2007. Web.
Simpson, John. “Lifting the veil; Life in revolutionary Iran”. 1995. Web.
Stevenson, Struan. “Risks of appeasing Iran’s mullahs”. 2005. Web.