January 9 Uprising, a prelude to the Islamic Revolution

This article is intended to make you familiar with one of the fateful developments in overthrowing the despotic Shah regime and victory of the Islamic Revolution under the leadership of Imam Khomeini.

The uprising which took place in Qom one year before the collapse of Shah regime was a reaction to the publication of an article titled “Iran and the Red and Black Colonialism” on daily Ettela'at which had brazenly desecrated Imam Khomeini. The uprising of the people of Qom on January 9, 1978 was very important since it acted as a precursor for the next uprisings of people of different cities across Iran and shook the foundations of the despotic regime of Shah. Many analysts have referred to January 9 uprising as the beginning of the Islamic Revolution. Stay tuned as we are going to shed light on the uprising and its consequences.

The article “Iran and the Red and Black Colonialism” was published on daily Ettela'at at the behest of SAVAK and aimed at destroying the religious and political personality of Imam Khomeini who was the main opponent of the Shah regime though he was in exile in holy Najaf. The sacrilegious article had used very insulting remarks against the beloved and matchless leader of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini. It is believed that the real writer of the article was the minister of information and tourism Dariush Homayoon which was published after SAVAK’s approval. In order to understand the purpose of the regime of publishing this article, we should focus on the politico-social developments of Iran at that time. The Shah, under the pressure of global public opinion since the beginning of 1977, slightly reduced political suffocation and repression in the country. In these circumstances, many opponents of the regime became more active, and mosques and partisan centers became the main venues for political activities of the opponents of the regime. Throughout the year 1977, several incidents contributed to the expansion of the struggle and its deepening. The suspicious death of Dr. Ali Shariati, as an anti-regime intellectual, publication of the statements of Sources of Emulation and ulema, especially Imam Khomeini in opposition to the regime's actions, and most importantly, the suspicious martyrdom of Imam Khomeini's son Ayatollah Seyyed Mostafa Khomeini culminated in nationwide demonstrations against the regime. However, the main of awakening for the people was Imam Khomeini who delivered speeches and issued statements without a scintilla of fear of the Shah and his puppet regime.

The suspicious martyrdom of Imam Khomeini's son, Haj Aqa Mostafa, made Imam Khomeini more popular among people, although he lived in exile. The memorial ceremonies in the Iranian cities, especially Tehran and Qom, for the Imam's martyred son, turned into the circles of praising and further familiarity with Imam Khomeini and the center of blatant opposition to the regime. It is noteworthy that the ceremonies were held not only by theologians but also by other groups which were opposed to the regime. In fact, these congregations were the unifying factor across the country. However, the regime resorted to violent methods and military ways to quell peaceful rallies as the entire nation wanted the ouster of the Shah and collapse of the unpopular kingship through logic and reasoning.

In one of these congregations, for the first time the title “Imam” with a certain sense of the word was applied for the leader of the Islamic Revolution. Hence, the unmatched personality of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ruhollah Mussavi Khomeini was called Imam Khomeini ever since. It is interesting to note that the term, "Imam" is used mainly for the 12 infallible successors of the Prophet of Islam as they are the sources of guidance and divine authority over people. This title was used for very few personalities throughout the Islamic history. A SAVAK official was later quoted as saying that the reason for writing the sacrilegious article on Ettela'at daily was the horror of the regime from the ever-increasing popularity and influence of Imam Khomeini among people. 

The insulting article was published by a mercenary of the US and Israel, who wrote with the pseudonym Rashidi Motlaq. The blasphemous article was published on the occasion of anniversary of the Day of Hijab Banning by Shah's father Reza Khan. With the distribution of this newspaper in Qom city, the news of insulting Imam Khomeini and Islamic sanctities quickly spread across seminaries and religious groups and then among the whole people of Qom. The next morning, the classrooms were unanimously closed down and about 200 protesters marched to the houses of Grand Ayatollahs. The protests and marches continued till late January 9th, and in the evening of this day, the security forces clashed with the demonstrators resulting in the martyrdom of seven protesters and injury of 15 others.

The news of suppression of the protest rallies in Qom reached holy Najaf and Imam Khomeini, issued a very hot statement harshly warning the regime and challenging its very legitimacy. This event was the beginning of chain demonstrations each of which was held on the occasion of 40thday of the previous one in different cities of Iran. These chain demonstrations were very effective in spreading protests to different cities and public mobilization of people against the regime. Hence, the countdown began for the ultimate collapse of the regime and victory of the Islamic Revolution. 

On the 40th day of martyrdom of the people of Qom, corresponding with February 18, 1978, the brave people of Tabriz held ceremonies to commemorate the innocent blood of the martyrs of Qom. Later on markets and universities were shut down and ceremonies were held in different cities of the country for commemorating martyrs. In Tabriz, after shooting at a teenager and killing him by a police officer, demonstrations turned reacted harshly and consequently thousands of people poured into streets and by chanting slogans against the regime declared their strong support for their beloved Leader, Imam Khomeini. A large number of people were martyred or injured. On March 30, 1978, the 40th day of the martyrs of Tabriz was commemorated in 15 cities and in some cities such as Yazd the police attack led to martyrdom of a number of demonstrators. The 40th ceremony of Yazd martyrs was held in May, 1978 in 24 cities in many of which innocent people were gunned down by the forces of the regime. The protests caused the Shah to call off his visit to Eastern Europe. The common slogans of all these protests were "Death to Shah", "Peace on Khomeini" and "Long live the martyrs of Qom and Tabriz".

The grassroots protests took shape and expanded while no domestic and foreign analysts could speculate that they would lead to the collapse of the regime by the end of the year in view of Carter’s visit to Iran and his decisive support for Shah and announcement of Iran as an island of stability in the turbulent West Asia. Even reports sent by US diplomats to the State Department were not alarming. The American Ambassador to Iran, William H. Sullivan, later wrote in a book: "The demonstrations that were held every forty days were completely religious in the beginning, and political opposition groups, including liberals, socialists and democrats or communists had no role in it. Some of these groups were so under the control and care of SAVAK that their public activity was not possible."

Therefore, due to the religious fabric of the anti-regime protests, many political observers did not consider it a serious risk to the regime, and in general few exposed the Shah regime to a serious danger from inside or abroad. But unlike what the observers analyzed, popular demonstrations spread into 1979 and gradually a unique unity was shaped among ulema, intellectuals, employees and people from every stratum against the regime. Hence, a nationwide revolution took place against the despotic and puppet regime.

With the beginning of the blessed month of Ramadan in midsummer of 1978, a large number of students of seminaries traveled to cities and villages of the country and played an effective role in mobilizing different strata of people and making them familiar with the oppressions of the regime. These endeavours further deepened the love of Imam Khomeini in the hearts of the people as they witnessed how selflessly their Leader has entered the arena of struggle just like his ancestors, the Prophet and his infallible successors.

The Eid Fitr prayers in Tehran turned into the huge gathering against the regime as political slogans were chanted and the name of Imam Khomeini was repeatedly mentioned by people and ulema. With the reopening of schools and universities, a huge masses of students joined the revolution and organized great demonstrations against the regime. In some junctures like November 4, the protests led to the martyrdom of a number of students. The developments of early autumn 1978 to late February 1979 forced the Shah to flee the country on January 16 under the pretext of treatment. These events culminated in the triumph of the Islamic Revolution on February 11, 1979. The Shah left no stone unturned to quench the revolution including enforcement of martial law and appointment of a violent and ruthless figure as general Azhari to the post of premiership. But none of these measures could stop the nationwide revolution and with Imam Khomeini's arrival in the country on February 1, 1979, the despotic regime was put into the dustbin of history and the Islamic Revolution attained victory on February 11, 1979, almost one year after Qom's uprising.

The US Wants to Bring Back the Shah of Iran

by David William Pear 

The US had a great deal going from 1953 to 1979 with the Shah of Iran.  For 25 years Iran was a cornerstone of the US usurping the British Empire in the Middle East, following World War Two.  Iran was a base for projecting US power in the region, and strategically it bordered the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

During the early 20th century the British Empire had full control of Iran’s oil industry, and was paying Iran a flat fee for every barrel of oil it extracted.  A rough calculation of Iran’s royalties is between 8% to 16% of the profits, but Iran was never allowed to look at the financial books.[*]

Prior to the CIA-led 1953 overthrow of the democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh, Iran demanded 50% of the profits and control of their oil industry.  That was not unreasonable, but Iran was willing to negotiate.  At the time, the US oil companies had a 50/50 profit sharing agreement with Saudi Arabia.

The British refused any negotiated settlement.  It was then that the Iranian parliament led by Mossadegh voted to nationalized Iran’s oil industry.The British responded with a naval blockade, and began plotting to overthrow Mossadegh and the parliament.  As the Prime Minister, Mossadegh held the most political power in Iran because the people were behind him.  The Shah of Iran was mostly a figurehead, at the time.[*]

President Harry Truman was adamantly against colonialism and sided with Iran, which infuriated the British.  When President Dwight D. Eisenhower took office in 1953, he sided with the British.  Eisenhower and Churchill plotted a coup d’état to overthrow Mossadegh.  The frightened Shah, who was in on the plot, fled from Iran before the coup attempt just in case anything went wrong.  The first attempt did fail.  A second daring CIA-led coup succeeded and the US reinstalled Mohammad Reza Pahlavi as the Shah of Iran, with dictatorial power.

By its intervention, the US broke the British Empire’s monopoly on Iran’s oil.  That was part of the US’s calculus.  After the coup, US oil companies got 40% of Iran’s oil industry, 14% went to Royal Dutch-Shell, 6 % went to the French Petroleum Company, and the British oil company kept 40%.  In addition, Iran got its 50/50 share of the net profits that it wanted in the first place.  The US immediately sent financial aid to prop up the Shah, and to bolster Iran’s weakened economy from the British blockade.

If the British had initially been flexible,renegotiated a 50/50 oil deal with Prime Minister Mossadegh, then it would have made a coup less likely.  Iran was developing a secular democratic government.  It might have become a model for other post-colonial countries in the Middle East.  Democracy and self-determination are what the US said its world mission was going back to President Woodrow Wilson in 1918:

“….every peace-loving nation which, like our own, wishes to live its own life, determine its own institutions, be assured of justice and fair dealing by the other peoples of the world as against force and selfish aggression. All the peoples of the world are in effect partners in this interest, and for our own part we see very clearly that unless justice be done to others it will not be done to us.”[*]

Since Iran was a developing democracy, an excuse had to be found for a US intervention.Churchill accused Mossadegh of being a communist.  There was no evidence that he was.  Mossadegh was an anti-colonial nationalist who cared about the welfare of the Iranian people, and that was all the evidence that Eisenhower needed. Mossadegh had to be punished for standing up to the British and demanding Iran’s natural resources for the benefit of the Iranian people.

The winners from the coup were the US and the timid Shah who had ran from his own people.  The US would teach him how to have a backbone.  He turned out to be a good student, and with the support of the US he turned Iran into a totalitarian police state andhe ruled by terror.  The Shah got US protection from his own people and from foreign enemies.

The US looked the other way from the Shah’s corruption of conspicuous consumption, stuffing dollars in foreign bank accounts and lining his own pockets, and those of his cronies.  The US got a big piece of the Iran oil industry, and Iran gave the US a strategically important location for a military presence.As for the people of Iran, they continued to live in abject poverty and illiteracy.[*]

Now that the Shah is gone, the US propaganda machine and the mainstream media put out a flood of stories about how wonderful life was under the Shah.  The propagandists use economic indicators of inflation, employment, gross domestic product, oil exports and the upper-class standard of living.  Anybody who puts out those kinds of comparative economics deserves to flunk Economics 101.

Iran has been under sever US-imposed economic sanctions for 40 years.  The US has been threatening Iran with war and “all options are on the table” for decades.  The US has also instigated instability inside Iran and supported external attacks by terrorist groups such as Mujahideen-e-Khalq, or MEK.[*]

MEK was on the US State Department’s list of terrorist organization until it was removed by former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in 2012.[]  The fact that MEK has killed US citizens in terrorist attacks did not hinder some US politicians from accepting large speaking fees at their conventions, even when MEK was still on the US terrorist list.[]

The US project to destroy Iran’s economy has had a devastating impact.  The husky Secretary of Defense Mike Pompeo said that it is up to Iranian’s leadership “if they want their people to eat”.[*]Because of the US, Iran lacks sufficient funds that it would like to invest in human resources and social programs.  Iran’s constitution guarantees healthcare and free education for all, as well as protections of civil rights.  As reflected in the drafting of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic, the vision of the economic order was:

“Social justice and economic independence were the main economic goals to be achieved, among other means, through the expansion of the welfare state, extension of public ownership, creation of an active cooperative sector, and strengthening the agricultural and industrial sectors for greater self-reliance.….the Constitution of the Islamic Republic bears great resemblance on economic issues to the charters and constitutions of Arab “socialist” states drafted during the 1960s and 1970s.”[*]

Constant US, Israeli and Saudi threats require Iran to divert its domestic budget more towards defense, instead of its desired economic goals.  Terrorist attacks and internal dissention stirred up by the US causes Iran to increase its internal security to the detriment of civil liberties.  The US and the mainstream media propaganda machines know what the deliberate effects of US aggressive actions cause, but they cruelly taunt Iran for its economic and social hardships by blaming the victim.

The US uses these same dirty tricks against Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, North Korea, Russia and every other country that the US demonizes for not falling into line behind US domination in the neoliberal New World Order.The New World Order is the US foreign policy that it alone is unrestrained to “destabilize countries in order to integrate them militarily, politically and economically ….into US-style capitalism and culture”.[*]

The US is still fighting a cold war against socialism, the welfare state, and public ownership.A cold war against Iran is not about US national security.  Iran is not an existential threat to the US, or to Israel either.[*]It is about US corporations being thwarted from exploiting Iran’s natural resources, privatizing their state-owned enterprises, and “opening” Iran to unequal trade arrangements.  It is also about the US being the hegemon in the Middle East.

The US is still using the same gunboat diplomacy that it has been using since the 19th century to “open” Latin America, Japan, Korea, China and the Philippians to exploitation.  It is old fashioned imperialism dressed up in the jargon of “human rights, democracy, and US exceptionalism”.  It is what old-world colonialism called “civilizing the heathens”.

The US will never forgive the Islamic Republic of Iran for shutting down the US deal of exploitation.  With the Shah’s cut from oil companies, he was a very big customer for US weapons manufacturers, such as General Dynamics, Lockheed, and Northrop. He also aggressively bought into President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Atoms for Peace program.  At the urging of the US, Iran began its nuclear program in 1957.[]

Selling weapons and nuclear technology was good business for weapons manufacturers and the nuclear industry.  US companies like General Electric and Westinghouse sold Iran the nuclear equipment and technology, as well as the enriched uranium fuel.  They even sold the Shah highly enriched weapons grade uranium, which is the most efficient for producing electricity, and making atomic bombs, too.[*]

As far as the US public knew the Shah was highly popular and loved by his people.  Imagine the surprise when the people of Iran overthrew him in 1979.  The mainstream media was shocked too, since they had swallowed their own propaganda.  The images of Iranians rioting, protesting,burning the US flag and shouting Death to America were frightening,it looked irrational, and it seemed to come out of nowhere.

The US public and press became outraged when the US Embassy in Tehran was stormed by revolutionary students who took 52 Americans hostage.The students renamed the US Embassy the “Den of Spies”.  The students had every reason for that name, given the cache of incriminating documents they discovered.[*]

In the US, every nightly TV news broadcast began with the number of days that had passed since the beginning of the Iran Hostage Crisis.  It lasted for 444 days, and resulted in President Carter losing his re-election bid to Ronald Reagan in 1980.

Instead of an imperial looking shah, the Iranian Revolution ushered in an Islamic leader to head the government.  The thought of Iran turning into a theocracy seemed antiquated to Americans.  They had not known that Ayatollah Khomeini was a national hero since the early 1960’s.  He had been arrested, tortured, imprisoned and then exiled to France for his outspoken opposition to the Shah.[*]  The unphotogenic image of a dour looking Ayatollah Khomeini was an easy target for Western racist and Islamophobic propaganda.

The US public could not understand why Iran became anti-US, anti-West, anti-modern, and appeared to be fanatical.The violent purging of the Shah’s cronies and of the opposition was shocking.  Iranian supporters of the Shah who fled to the US brought with them wild tales of people being hung from street lamps for having televisions and toilets in their homes.  They left out the part about how they lived in affluent luxury, while the vast majority of people lived in hovels.  The transition was violence, and it lasted for about 2 years.

The US public had no idea why the Iranian people hated the US so much.  The facts were kept secret from the public for years.  The State Department documents were finally made public in 2017. []For many decades the public did not know that it was the US, from President Eisenhower on down through the State Department and the CIA, which overthrew the popular democratically elected government of the charismatic Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh.[]But the Iranian people knew that It was the US that put the brutal regime of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi on the Peacock Throne.[*]

The US public was uninformed of the Shah’s repression, political prisoners, torture chambers, assassinations, disappearances and executions.  Not only did the US government turn a blind eye to the brutality, it was the CIA (and Israel’s Mossad) that was the overseer and mentor to the Shah’s secret police; the “Organization of National Intelligence and Security of the Nation”, known as SAVAK.[*]

[YouTube, 1953 Iran US-Led CIA Coup d’etat]

For an example of the Shah’s brutality, an Amnesty International assessment for 1974-1975 report stated:

“The shah of Iran retains his benevolent [world] image despite the highest rate of death penalties in the world, no valid system of civilian courts and a history of torture which is beyond belief.”[*]

Once when The Shah was confronted by a journalist for the French newspaper Le Monde about his brutal repression methods he responded:

“Why should we not employ the same methods as you Europeans.  We have learned sophisticated methods of torture from you. You use psychological methods to extract the truth; we do the same.”

In 1978 Amnesty International reported that nothing had changed for the better in Iran.  Even the mention of the word SAVAK was enough to send chills down the backs of Iranians.

The explosion of the Iranian Revolution of 1979, the Hostage Crisis and the animosity of the Iranian people towards the US government was the direct result and blow back from 25 years of the US coddling and sheltering its shah puppet.  As Kermit Roosevelt who was the CIA station chief in Tehran in 1953 said of the Shah: “He’s our boy”.  It was Roosevelt who engineered and implemented the coup that brought the Shaw to power.  The code name for the coup was Operation Ajax.[*]

Just as Trump is trying to cover up for MBS (as Thomas Friedman affectionately refers to the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia), President Jimmy “Human Rights” Carter tried to cover up and sheltered Mohammad Reza Pahlavi after the Iranian Revolution.  The Iranian people wanted the Shah arrested by the US, where he had fled.  They wanted him extradited to Iran to face justice.

Henry Kissinger and David Rockefeller had appealed to Carter’s compassion to admit the Shah to the US for health reasons.  After much vacillation Carter agreed.[]Carter had had a friendly personal relationship with The Shah.  In 1977 Carter visited Iran and toasted the Shah for his “island of stability” and for “the admiration and love which your people give you”.[]

Carter admitted the Shah to the US on October 21, 1979.On November 4, 1979 revolutionary students took over the US Embassy in Tehran, and demanded the Shah in exchange for the US hostages.  Carter said he refused to give into “blackmail” to a group of “terrorists”.Still vacillating, Carter expelled the Shah from the US.  He died in Egypt in 1980. [*]

As a reaction to the Iran Hostage Crisis, the US imposed unilateral sanctions on Iran,cut off the sale of oil and froze their assets in the US.  The US put an embargo on Iran, including humanitarian supplies, and the US broke diplomatic relations.  Needless to say, the US stopped its “Atoms for Peace” program and cooperation with Iran in developing nuclear energy.[*]

Not coincidentally, Iran released the US hostages within hours of Ronald Reagan being sworn in as President in 1981.  The circumstances and timing of the hostage release is still controversial.[]  Most likely,Carter deserves the credit for successfully negotiating the release of the hostages.[] Why the Iranians released the hostages when they did is still a mystery.

In 1980 Iraq invaded Iran starting the Iran-Iraq war that lasted until 1988.Whether or not the US gave a “green light” to Saddam Hussein to invade Iran, the US did not try to prevent or stop Iraq’s aggression.  According to Dexter Filkins, writing in the New Yorker:

Iran’s leaders took two lessons from the Iran-Iraq War. The first was that Iran was surrounded by enemies, near and far. To the regime, the invasion was not so much an Iraqi plot as a Western one. American officials were aware of Saddam’s preparations to invade Iran in 1980, and they later provided him with targeting information used in chemical-weapons attacks; the weapons themselves were built with the help of Western European firms.

The other lesson drawn from the Iran-Iraq War was the futility of fighting a head-to-head confrontation.  ……Instead, they had to build the capacity to wage asymmetrical warfare—attacking stronger powers indirectly, outside of Iran.[*]

According to the New York Times, “the Reagan Administration secretly decided shortly after taking office in January 1981 to allow Israel to ship several billion dollars’ worth of American arms and spare parts to Iran”.[*] Cynically the US later said that it gave aid to both sides “to remain neutral”; and unsaid was to keep either side from winning.  Both Iran and Iraq suffered over 500,000 casualties each in the Iran-Iraq War.

If the US had hoped that the Iran-Iraq war would weaken Iran, then the unintended consequences were just the opposite, as often is the case with US duplicity.  Iraq’s invasion of Iran united the Iranian people strongly behind the Iran revolutionary government.  In 2003, President Bush’s invasion of Iraq would make Iran an even stronger regional power.

In 1982 Israel invaded Lebanon, and through a series of events Reagan sent US Marines to Lebanon.  He called them a “peacekeeping force” to avoid having to get Congressional approval under the 1973 War Powers Resolution.  In 1983 a truck bomb suicide attack on a Marine barracks in Lebanon killed 241 people, mostly US Marines.  The US blamed the attack on Iran and declared Iran a “terrorist state”.  More US sanctions were imposed on Iran even though there was only circumstantial evidence that Iran was the perpetrator.

In 1988 the US shot down an Iranian commercial airliner that was in Iranian airspace.  All 290 passengers and crew of the airliner died.[]  The US claimed that it mistook the plane for a threatening fighter jet.  Even though the US admitted that it had shot down the airliner, President George H. W.Bush refused to apologize, saying “I’m not an apologize-for-America kind of guy”.  []

Even with all the turmoil of the 1980’s, Iran continued to work on its nuclear program.  It had signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 1970.  Iran has every right under the treaty to a nuclear energy program.In fact, under the treaty the nuclear-weapons countries are obligated to cooperate with the non-nuclear-weapons countries in the peaceful development of atomic energy.

Instead of abiding by the NPT, the US used the red herring that Iran had a nuclear weapons program.  Without proof, the US slapped unilateral economic sanctions on Iran.  So, Iran turned to France, Russia and other countries to purchase material, equipment and technology for its nuclear energy program.

After the Iraq invasion of Kuwait in 1990, and the US war with Iraq, the US imposed sanctions on both Iraq and Iran.  While Iran had declared neutrality in the war, the US accused Iran of secretly aiding Iraq.  The real reason why the US imposed sanctions on Iran was that it was concerned that a weakened Iraq would strengthen Iran as a regional power, which is exactly what it did.[*]

Then in 1996 under President Bill Clinton, what was to become known as the Iran and Libya Sanctions Act was passed by Congress.l*]  This act penalized any US or foreign entities that invested in Iran’s oil and gas industry.  The supposed rational was that investing in Iran’s oil and gas industry would provide Iran with the funds to develop weapons of mass destruction.Since money is fungible, the same logic could be used about all trade with Iran, and eventually it was.  Still there is no proof, except circumstantial, that Iran has ever had a nuclear weapons program.

The real reason for economic sanctions is that the US is engaging in economic warfare against Iran.  It is angry because their puppet shah was overthrown.US economic sanctions are an attempt to destroy Iran’s economy.  As the most powerful and influential economic nation in the world the US can exert tremendous financial penalties, hardships and isolation on other countries.  Most of the suffering from sanctions are borne by civilians.

Does supporting the aggressor in a war,aiding the aggressor in the use of banned chemical weapons, giving both sides weapons to kill each other, and shooting down a civilian airliner qualify as “state sponsored terrorism”?  Since 1979 the US has killed millions of people is covert operations such as in Afghanistan, and in illegal wars of aggression in the Middle East, such as the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Yet, Iran is condemned by the US as the world’s “leading state sponsor of terrorism”?  Such accusations by the US against Iran are hypocritical and politically motivated hyperbole.[]  The motive for US propaganda is to aid the cause of overthrowing, one way or another, the internationally recognized legal government of Iran.[]  The world’s leading sponsor of state terrorism is surely the US, and its partners in terrorism are the UK, Israel, and Saudi Arabia, and the other Gulf Cooperation Council countries.

The definition of terrorism according to Webster’s dictionary is “the unlawful use of violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims”.

The victims of US economic sanctions call it financial terrorism.  It is and it does hurt mostly civilians financially, and it causes them unnecessary suffering and deaths from the lack of nutrition and medicines for curable and preventable diseases.  There is also tremendous emotional distress on the civilian population caused by economic sanctions.  Alcoholism, drug addiction, divorce, crime and many other social conditions are exacerbated.

Economic sanctions meet the definition of terrorism, and that makes economic sanctions a crime against humanity.  Even UN authorized economic sanctions overstep the Geneva Conventions and are immoral and maybe unlawful.  The International Committee of the Red Cross has cautioned the United Nations Security Council that the “Security Council is bound to observe the principles of international humanitarian law when designing, monitoring and reviewing sanctions regimes.”[*]

The US wants to turn the clock back to 1953 and a return of the Shah of Iran.  Why not?  The US had a great deal going with the Shah of Iran for a quarter of a century, until the Iranian Revolution of 1979.  That is why the US hates the current government and wants to overthrow it.

The US is determined to undermine the government of Iran.  President Trump’s violation of the JCPOA, “Iran Deal”, has put “all options on the table” again:economic sanctions,terrorism, war and even the use of nuclear weapons.Iran is now in its 40th year of the Islamic Republic.[]Speaking to the terrorist group MEK in 2017, John Bolton said that President Trump’s policies should be that “Ayatollah Khomeini’s 1979 revolution will not last until its 40th birthday.”[]  The 40th anniversary of Iran’s Islamic Revolution will take place in a few months, on February 11, 2019. Obviously, Bolton is not invited.

Trump says that the Iran Deal is the worst deal in history.  What the US wants is the old deal that it had with Iran from 1953 to 1979.  That was the “Greatest Iran Deal in History”.  The CIA already has their man ready.  They have been grooming him since he was 17 years old.  He lives not far from the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.  He is Reza Pahlavi, the Crown Prince of Iran.  He is the last heir apparent to his father’s defunct Peacock Throne.  He is waiting in the wings for the job opening for a new Shah of Iran.

References

[*] Glide your mouse over the stars in the article for hyperlinks to supporting attributions.

“The Plot to Attack Iran: How the CIA and the Deep State Have Conspired to Vilify Iran”, by Dan Kovalik.

“Shah of Shahs”, by Ryszard Kapuscinski.

“All the Shah’s Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror”, by Stephen Kinzer.

 David William Pear is a columnist writing on U.S. foreign policy, economic and political issues, human rights and social issues. David is a Senior Contributing Editor of The Greanville Post (TGP) and a prior Senior Editor for OpEdNews (OEN). David has been writing for The Real News Network (TRNN) and other publications for over 10 years. 

The achievments of the Islamic revolution of Iran.

Iranians hold nationwide rallies to mark US embassy takeover

Iranians have begun holding rallies across the country to mark the anniversary of the 1979 takeover of the US embassy in Tehran.

Demonstrators in Tehran gathered on Sunday outside the former US diplomatic mission, also known as the “Den of Espionage,” chanting slogans against the United States.

Similar rallies are being held in more than 1,000 cities and towns across the vast country, with participants chanting "Death to the US”, "Death to Israel”, and "Hayhat minna az-zilla” (Never to Humiliation).

Iranian students rally outside the former US embassy in Tehran, Nov. 4, 2018. (Photo by Fars)

On November 4, 1979, a group of university students took over the embassy, which they believed had turned into a center of espionage, plotting to overthrow the nascent Islamic Republic, and held 52 American diplomats for 444 days. 

Documents found at the mission corroborated claims by the revolutionary students that Washington had been using the compound to hatch plots against Iran.

The late founder of the Islamic Republic, Imam Khomeini, hailed the takeover as a “second revolution” after the 1979 Islamic Revolution toppled the Shah of Iran, who was a close ally of the US in Iran. 

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said on Saturday the US has been trying for the past 40 years to regain the domination it had over Iran under the Shah but to no avail.

PressTV-Ayat. Khamenei: US always defeated in face-off with Iran

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei says a face-off has been going on between the US and Iran for the past 40 years, in which the United States has always been defeated.

"There is an important fact here, that in this 40-year-old challenge, the American side has been defeated and the side of the Islamic Republic has been victorious," he said, addressing a group of students in Tehran. 

This year's rallies come after the US administration decided on Friday to reimpose all sanctions lifted under the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran. 

"America's goal with sanctions is to cripple and hold back Iran's economy, but the outcome is that the push toward self-sufficiency has expanded in the country," Ayatollah Khamenei said.

November 4, which falls on the 13th day of the Iranian calendar month of Aban, is also known as the Student Day and the National Day of the Fight against Global Arrogance.

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) issued a statement on Saturday, saying the Iranian nation will give President Donald Trump a "slap in the face” through their participation in nationwide rallies to mark the embassy takeover.

The IRGC echoed Ayatollah Khamenei's observation that "America's power is in decline and the country is much weaker today than it was 40 years ago." 

"The decline of the US is a definite, inevitable reality consistent with a divine promise," the IRGC statement said.  

The 13th of Aban, the statement said, is "the symbol of the Iranian nation's fight against the arrogance and its invincibility in the face of the US and the evil arrogant movement in contemporary history."

“With the blessing of God and the insight and vigilance of the Iranian nation, the 13th of Aban this year will turn into a show of national prowess and unity, the humiliation of the Great Satan, the condemnation of the hegemonic nature of the notorious US regime and the Iranian nation’s slap in the face of the deceitful US president and officials,” it added.