Irdc: There are various views about Iran, supporting Shah, US confronting Islamic Revolution and… in the diaries and narrations of US diplomats and authorities, here are some of them:
Supporting Shah untill the countdown
Charles Crossman says: "Carter Administration liked Shah so much that he supported Shah even after the process of revolution was finished, and that’s what we can tell by the classified documents of his administration which is available in National Security Archive containing lots of information about their Iran-related affairs”.
Mark Gasiorowski, historian and professor of Political Science in the University of Louisiana, replies to the question "Did The United States ever think of replacing Shah” as "Not until final weeks of his kingdom, they were fully satisfied with him when he was in power”.
Anker Jorgensen declares that "Shah was completely aware that the main reason he was in power in Iran, were his American supporters. He knew that if one day they came to the conclusion that he cannot fulfil their wishes, they would replace him immediately”.
Iran’s strategic importance for the United States
Ramsey Clark, US former Attorney General, mentions Iran’s important position in US foreign policy guidelines: "The hisrory of Shah’s relationship with United States shows their intimacy, the two countries had lots of common interests… So I assume that Iran has been always important in US general strategy”.
Charles Crossman says: "I’ve studied the classified documents from Nickson and Carter Administrations and I can say that Iran was the core of US foreign policy in that period of time. They trusted their ally, Iran, and specificly the Shah himself”.
US efforts to protect the monarchy
After the 1953 coup, US fully supported Pahlavi dynasty to protect its interests in Iran. Gasiorowski declares that United States supported them till the countdown of their reign: "There were moves that if they were made, the revolution could have been controled. They had to pay attention to the issues way sooner. Till October 1978, Americans didn’t take Iran’s domestic affairs seriously. In August 1978, CIA did a famous survey which said Iran was not in the pre-revolution situation. That was a big mistake. In September 1978, it was clear that the throne on the edge of collapsing.
Clark describes his meeting with Bakhtiar: "We were looking for a way to transfer the power without struggle and bloodshed. Bakhtiar was going to govern while Shah was gone. On that time he had gone for medical treatment and he planned to come back”.
Innovation of Islamic Revolution
Barry Rozen says: "I always thought that the revolution belongs to the middle class or the ones looking for more democracy, but I assume that democrat and religous parties were mostly allied”.
Michael Metrinko, political officer in US embassy in Iran says: "There was not such thing as Political Islam before. Iran’s revolution brought up the term for the first time. Nowadsys, the whole West Asia are engaged with the concept, but it was obscure in 1978. Most Americans didn’t know what they were facing, they only were watching Shah’s kingdom collapse and day by day they eventually recognized the danger of it for United States.
Jorgensen says: "US was so humiliated by Iran’s revolution and the hostage just integrated the failure”.
US encounter with Islamic Revolution
Barry Rozen says: "When I was in Iran, I used to read a lot. I read many books about Iran’s history, culture, society and political situation. The relationship between students and the government was tense. It was so difficult to say something about Shah. I learned so fast that I have to keep mouth shut about politics and just observe”.
John Stambelos says: "I heard from a trusted source that Americans were not aware of Shah’s illness till October. We would act differently If we knew Shah was sick, we would saved the dynasty even with the cost of deposing Shah. Even his wife didn’t know he was sick before fall. In October, the situation got more complicated. The protests and Jaleh (Shohada) square incidents happened. It was easy to see the terrible situation”.
