09.06.2016

Claims exposed once and for all

The CIA papers have shattered any lingering illusions in the ‘anti-imperialist’ credentials of the Tehran regime, writes Yassamine Mather

On June 7, the speaker of the Iranian parliament, Ali Larijani, attacked the BBC for what he called a “baseless report on correspondence between Imam Khomeini and former US president Jimmy Carter”, claiming this was a cynical move - “an attempt to throw doubt on the authenticity of Imam Khomeini’s struggle against the US”. According to Larijani, “The aim behind this fabrication was possibly to shock public opinion so that the stigma of links with America is believed, even under the hardest of conditions that previously existed.”

In fact the BBC “report” consisted of nothing more than transcripts of newly declassified US government documents just released by Washington. These CIA papers reveal how in 1979 ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini pleaded with Carter, as US president, to use his influence over high-ranking military leaders of the shah’s regime to clear the way for a takeover of power by Khomeini’s supporters, thus “calming the situation”.

What is of interest is the level of coordination between the two sides - Khomeini’s chief of staff and Carter’s advisors. The details show the extent to which Khomeini - later to become Iran’s supreme leader - was ready to prostrate himself in front of “the great Satan” in order to achieve US support. He portrayed the future Islamic Republic of Iran as a US ally: “We do not have any particular animosity for the Americans.”¹

Direct quotes from the documents destroy once and for all illusions about the coming to power of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which are held not just by Islamists, but sections of the left, in Iran and worldwide. In case anyone is in any doubt, ayatollah Khomeini was not the ‘brave third world leader’ who defied and defeated US imperialism. On the contrary, he was the man who ended a revolutionary process, promising “calm” in return for US help in deposing shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi through a deal with his military commanders. We now know how he communicated with Carter, who persuaded the shah to leave Iran for an ‘extended holiday’ and how the US administration then informed Khomeini that Iran’s military leaders were unlikely to stand in his way if he took power.

In fact it is quite clear from these documents that the US arranged for the opening of a communication channel with Khomeini and his principal advisors before the shah left Iran. A rational explanation for this cooperation would be that the US was more fearful of other sections of the opposition forces - the working class, whose strikes had paralysed the country, and the left - than the Islamists and in true tradition of US foreign policy, particularly during the cold war, Washington decided to ally itself with the Islamists against the secular and leftwing forces.

According to Kambiz Fattahi of the BBC Persian service, who has studied some of the released documents, on January 18 1979, only two days after Pahlavi’s departure from Iran, the Carter administration informed Khomeini that there was “flexibility” in the American position, in that the US had never said it wanted Iran to remain a kingdom forever. By some accounts this is the moment when Khomeini was reassured that there were no plans for a military coup (à la 1953) to return the shah to power.

On his second meeting with his US counterparts, two days after the shah’s departure, Khomeini’s representative, Ebrahim Yazdi, reassured the Americans that the Islamists did not want to destroy the army and there was no need for the US to remove its advanced military equipment, such as F14 fighters, Phoenix and Harpoon helicopters, from Iran. The next day the constitution of the proposed Islamic Republic was discussed and Yazdi clarified the position of the future supreme leader on a number of issues: the security of US investments in Iran, and of the two countries’ military and political relationship; Iran’s likely relationship with USSR and the sale of oil to the west. Khomeini’s representative informed his US counterpart that the new Islamic administration would not be as close to the west as the shah’s regime, but Iran would remain an anti-communist stalwart, keeping friendly relations with Washington.

Repression

Of course, we knew - or guessed - some of this from a quote by Mehdi Bazargan, Khomeini’s first prime minister, who said of the unfolding mass demonstrations and attacks on military barracks carried out by the left in February 1979: “We wanted rain; we got a deluge.”

Khomeini and his first government did their best to defeat the revolutionary movement. First the workers and the left were targeted, then women faced the regime’s wrath and soon the government in Tehran was at war with national minorities - in particular, the Kurds, Arabs and Balochis, who had dared to oppose the Shia state. In other words, Khomeini kept his word, at least initially, and, in accordance with his pledges to the US, tried to bring ‘calm’ through the repression of the revolutionary movement.

Yet, as far as he was concerned, the US did not keep to its part of the bargain. Khomeini and his government were obsessed with alleged foreign plots to topple the newly founded Islamic Republic, with US relations with Saddam Hussein in Iraq (this was later to lead to a full-scale war between Iran and Iraq), as well as with the fact that the US allowed the ex-shah to seek medical treatment in the US. Khomeini and his allies were convinced that “western arrogance” would lead to a coup, and concerned that the new Islamic government’s policy of repression was not working as well as it had hoped. Workers’ strikes were continuing and there was rebellion in Kurdistan and Turkman Sahra.

It was then and only then that Khomeini decided to use the occupation of the US embassy by Islamic students as an excuse to embark on what he later called “our struggle against the great Satan” - the taking of American hostages and the beginning of the profound animosity between the two countries. However, let us not forget that during this period there were secret negotiations. Even as Khomeini was promising to wipe out Israel - along with the “great Satan” itself, of course - he was sanctioning a deal with the Reagan administration. Iran was paying for its Israeli arms by depositing funds in a Swiss bank account for the US-backed Nicaraguan Contras - all this through the good offices of Oliver North in what became known as ‘Irangate’.

Procrastinating

All these revelations about Khomeini’s relationship with the United States came at a bad time - on the eve of the 27th anniversary of his death - and in some ways, as far as the current supreme leader is concerned, this year’s events must seem like an echo of what went on back then.

This was the immediate reaction of the current supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, to the revelations - delivered to the crowds gathered for the anniversary in the grotesque mausoleum built in Khomeini’s honour:

Britain’s malice against the Iranian nation has never stopped … The same enmity continues, as the British government’s apparatus spreads propaganda against the dear Imam of the Iranian nation, with the help of the Americans and forged documents, on the anniversary of the great and holy Imam’s death …²

Last year Khamenei struck a major compromise with the US - although he also accused Washington of procrastinating and breaking promises related to the landmark nuclear deal that came into force in January, whereby sanctions against Iran would be eased in return for restrictions on its nuclear activities. Once more Iran’s clerics feel they have been ‘betrayed’ by the United States. As Khamenei said, “We sat down and negotiated with P5+1 and even separately with the Americans over the nuclear issue.” However, although the Islamic republic “fulfilled its commitments”, the other “unfaithful side is procrastinating”. His conclusion was: “Whoever trusts in the United States is making a big mistake” - they will be rewarded with a “slap in the face”.

Khamenei is desperately trying to maintain the ‘revolutionary spirit’, faced with what he considers to be yet another US betrayal, but, as always, he is in denial. As the CIA papers reminded us, the Islamic Republic has been in power for 37 years, so the huge gap between the rich and poor cannot be blamed on the previous regime. He is the ruler of a country where non-payment of workers’ wages has become an integral part of exploitation, where neoliberal economic policies have created mass unemployment, job insecurity and contract working. In a country where workers are flogged for protesting against job losses, as mineworkers were last month, we can say with confidence there is nothing left of the aspirations of February 1979 uprising - and no amount of lies and self-delusion on the part of Khamenei will change this reality.

This week he has been preaching about the dominance of “low culture” and how the Islamic Republic has not managed to change this aspect of social life. There are many reasons for this. Since 1979 the religious state’s constant attempts to enforce a moralistic Islamic culture have backfired. Iranians are consummate customers of the worst kind of trash TV, beamed via satellite. More Iranians watch superficial, second-rate Turkish sit-coms than Turks. The few artists, writers and directors who try and rise above all this face the wrath of the religious state. Even film-makers who exercise a great deal of self-censorship, so that they can carry on with their work, are not immune from persecution. Jafar Panahi, the award-winning film director, having been ridiculed by the official press, especially by papers close to Khamenei, is now facing a 20-year ban on film-making. And this is just the tip of the iceberg.

The revelations contained in the CIA papers might be a serious source of embarrassment for the current leadership, but what they prove is that the Islamic Republic was built on a lie. And today it continues to be a regime of deceit and lies, where poverty, corruption and the constant interference of religion in people’s everyday existence makes life hell for its citizens. No wonder the overwhelming majority of young Iranians have no time for the regime’s claims of standing up to the “arrogance” of the United States. Now there is no-one in the country who can have any doubt that it was all a big con.

yassamine.mather@weeklyworker.co.uk

Notes

1. www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-36431160.

2. www.breitbart.com/national-security/2016/06/05/5-jun-16-world-view-irans-khomeini-fooled-jimmy-carter-great-islamic-revolution.