'May God Protect Us' If America Strikes Iran

During the government of Iran’s communist President Mossadegh [], Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi [] feared for his own position and popularity. The CIA realized (and so did President of the United States Eisenhower) that something had to be done to save the Shah from Mossadegh. At lightning speed, the Shah and his family were spirited out of Tehran to the Caspian Sea and then to Geneva, Switzerland. [Western accounts are that he first flew to Baghdad, and then to Rome]. He was terrified, and remained in Geneva for a few days, until he was returned to Tehran on the same plane. He was then welcomed back with full honors, and he ruled for just under 20 years more. The CIA arranged this by paying of Tehran’s poor (who live in shantytowns). Small street demonstrations broke out around Tehran, led by CIA stooges. With the American-inspired terror menacing him day and night, Mossadegh sought to tighten his hold on power. But his attempt to outmaneuver his adversaries failed, and he was toppled.

[Editor’s Note: Operation Ajax [ 1953] was a covert operation by the CIA in support of the Pahlavi dynasty of Iran, to remove Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh from power and consolidate the power of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi. Rationale for the intervention included Mossadegh’s socialist rhetoric and his nationalization, without compensation, of the oil industry].

After the Shah was returned to power, he was taken over by egoism and delusions of grandeur, born out of the U.S. military arsenal that he thought would lead to a re-blossoming of the ancient Persian Empire. But American intelligence felt that the Shah was swinging out of its orbit, and moved him out of power. Ultimately, Iran was lost as an ally. The Shah never knew where he would settle until he died. After receiving American approval, only Egypt welcomed him.

Oh Lord, doesn’t today look a lot like yesterday? Today we hear Tehran warning that if America strikes Iran, all the surrounding countries will suffer. Across Iran, we hear officials and organizations saying that if America touches Iran, everyone will burn. The vilest and most audacious statements come from the Iranian Hezbollah (Al-Seyassah newspaper, April 18) where the group’s leader threatens surrounding countries with a devastating blow. Moreover, that party threatened Turkey not to assist America. Kharazi, the leader of the party, said that Iran and the Iranian Hezbollah will not allow any country on Earth to dare provide support to the U.S. for a strike against Iran!! Isn’t making threats against everyone else boasting about terrorism? These indiscriminate threats are not only against surrounding countries, but the entire global community.

Let me tell you about my sorrow, pain and concern. How old is the alliance of the Gulf countries? How old is the Gulf Cooperation Council? How old is Islamic Iran? How is it that Iran has been able to so quickly acquire the technology for nuclear weapons, and indiscriminately terrorize all of the region’s countries? Why has Iran achieved this, and not the Gulf countries. I don’t mean a nuclear arsenal, but an impressive, powerful and lethal army equipped with modern weapons, instead of an army worthy of photo ops and newspaper articles that doesn’t inspire fear in others. In our countries, we call this “throwing ashes into the eyes,” or counterfeit money that doesn’t make you rich or quell your hunger. Even “Al Jazeera Shield Project” (a military cooperative amongst the Gulf countries) has been dismantled or put on hold.

Gentlemen, the future is for power and the powerful. Only ideology, methodology and rationality leads to power, because people unite around these principles. What Iran did was thanks to the support of its people, who look at this issue through an ideological lens! Is there anyone with vision willing to listen to poor old me and tell me what the future of this region will be?

If Iran’s nuclear arsenal is destroyed by the United States, the Iranian response will result in widespread destruction throughout the region. If America strikes – and the evidence is clear that only the southern areas of Iran are involved here – Iran will invade and occupy neighboring countries. This is an old plan, which can be found in both old and new books. Unless America destroys the nuclear sites, the end product is today clear: a catastrophe never before experienced on Earth is sure to hit Iran’s neighbors.

May God protect us. But someone may ask: Isn’t the fact that America is allowing Iran to build a nuclear arsenal evidence of secret U.S.-Iranian cooperation? Might Iran have agreed to continue threatening surrounding countries, so that those countries will have to call America for help? Isn’t an alleged Iranian military threat against the Gulf countries and the world a little far fetched? Many questions could be asked here, and they might be true or partly true.

God is our help.