Important context to understand the long history of US diplomatic missed opportunities which helped bring us to this disastrous point.
Chris Bambery is an author, political activist and commentator. His books include A People’s History of Scotland and The Second World War: A Marxist Analysis . Cross-posted from Counterfire Picture by Mostafameraji Twice in recent history there has been the possibility of an accord between the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran. Twice that was squandered by Washington, largely because of its bitterness regarding the 1979 revolution which removed the Shah, a key US ally, and the subsequent hostage crisis, which the Americans bitterly resented.
The first possibility of an accord was at the time of 9/11 when the Americans were preparing to invade and occupy Afghanistan to destroy Al-Qaida and their Taliban hosts, both of whom held to a Wahhabi version of Islam which regarded Shi’a Muslims as infidels to be eradicated.
The second possibility came with the rise of Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq and Syria, which are, like Iran, majority Shia. ISIS too, saw Shi’a Muslims as infidels to be eradicated.
Following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 America had supported Islamist resistance, which was closely connected to the Pakistani military and secret service. Rather than make an accord with Tehran however, the US made an alliance with Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to maintain control of the Persian Gulf and to isolate Iran.
The US was happy to see the growth of a greatly enlarged Pakistani security establishment, funded largely by Saudi Arabia. Pakistan’s Directorate of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) built up the Sunni right wing in Pakistan to counterbalance the Pakistan People’s Party of the Bhutto dynasty, regarded as too left wing in Washington.
The withdrawal of the Soviet Union from Afghanistan in 1989 coincided with the end of the Iran-Iraq war. As government collapsed in Afghanistan the Iranians started to pay more attention to the west of the country where there is a Shi’a population.
In 1992 the former Soviet backed leader, Mohammad Najibullah, was still nominally in charge of Kabul. Iran helped to broker the formation of what would become the Northern Alliance. It was mainly composed of northern ethnic groups such as Tajiks, Hazaras and Uzbeks. The Taliban were overwhelmingly made up of Pashtuns.
When the Taliban took control of Kabul in 1996 the Northern Alliance fought a civil war against them, backed by Iran. But Pakistan provided far greater aid to the Taliban and by 2001 the Alliance was restricted to the north east of the country.
After 9/11 Russia, Iran, India and the United States ultimately cooperated to defeat the Taliban and Al-Qaida in Afghanistan, and to establish a new Afghan government:
‘US-Iranian cooperation occurred both in the field, in Tajikistan and Afghanistan, and in diplomacy… According to Iranian diplomatic sources, members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC, Sipah-i Pasdaran) cooperated with the CIA and US Special Operations Forces in supplying and funding the commanders of the Northern Alliance’.
Both Iran and the US agreed on the need for elections in Afghanistan and for the new government to combat drugs and terrorism.
‘The Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarded these events as an opportunity to increase cooperation with the US from Afghanistan to a wider set of issues. US diplomat, James Dobbins, reports that Iranian officials later offered to work under US command to assist in building the Afghan National Army. US-Iranian cooperation in building the Afghan security forces would have constituted a major investment in realignment to the detriment of Pakistan, whose military counted on monopolizing the role as US intermediaries with Afghanistan as leverage to assure the US-Pakistan military supply relationship.’
But instead, the George W. Bush administration laid a number of charges against Tehran.
The first charge was that Iran was ‘harboring’ Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who had been a US ally against the Soviets in the 1980s. When Pakistan sided with the Taliban he was forced to flee to Tehran. Now Iran expelled him.
The second charge was that Iran was establishing its control over the Afghan city of Herat.
The third charge was that members of Al-Qaida had taken refuge in Iran. Given this group’s hatred of Shi’a Islam, it was a preposterous allegation. We now know the Al-Qaida refugees were in Pakistan. When Osama Bin-Laden was finally cornered and killed by the Americans he was living underneath a Pakistani military base.
This did not stop the US buddying up to Pakistan once more.
I could go on but by 2007 relations between Tehran and Washington had degenerated to deep hostility. And so the first opportunity for an accord between the two countries was not taken.
The second opportunity for an Iranian-American accord came with the rise of ISIS. By 2014 both states were fighting ISIS in Iraq.
The New York Times ran a headline saying, ‘US and Iran Both Attack ISIS, but Try Not to Look Like Allies’.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, Quds Force11, which had already fought ISIS in Syria, now moved to Iraq under the command of General Qassem Soleimani. In Syria, because Tehran was allied to the regime of Bashir Assad they operated under cover. Not so in Iraq.
After ISIS took Mosul the Iranians became heavily involved in the ground war against ISIS, while supplying the Iraqi government with weaponry.
Qassem Soleimani became a key figure in the ground war with ISIS:
‘Suleimani handled the training of the Shiite militias in Iraq, helped establish volunteer militias to fight alongside the weak local army, and presided over the establishment of joint operational centers, the transmission of intelligence, and the provision of military and organizational advice to the Iraqi government and security forces. He also granted military aid to the Kurdish militia while helping it defend Erbil and push Islamic State forces away from the city. In addition, he played a key role in breaking the Islamic State siege of the Shiite Turkoman city of Amirli in September 2014’.
The combination of Iranian, Iraqi Shi’a militias and the Kurds, together with US air strikes, was crucial to the defeat of ISIS.
The administration of President Barack Obama never entered into any formal agreements or alliance with Iran but did sign the nuclear agreement with Tehran. It started to look like an accord might be in the offing.
Then along came Donald Trump. In his first presidential term he ripped up the nuclear agreement with Iran and then ordered the assassination of Qassem Soleimani. Both were crucial steps down the road to where we are today. Both are crucial to understanding Tehran’s deep distrust of America.
Iran has very good reasons to be distrustful of US diplomacy. US support for Iraq in the brutal eight-year Iran-Iraq war still affects Iranian attitudes. Tehran also blames the US for the rise of both the Taliban and ISIS, the former grounded in the war against the Soviet Union’s occupation of Afghanistan, the latter as a weapon against the Assad regime.
Added to all that is the fact the US has twice attacked Iran while negotiations were ongoing, and in the second attack the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed sitting in his office. And then there is the unconditional support the US has given to Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Donald Trump, Pete Hegseth and Marco Rubio don’t understand the history that has taken us to this point, with Iran quite unexpectedly dug in and determined to fight for a meaningful resolution to the conflict. The world cannot afford imperialist arrogance working in tandem with ignorant populist politicians. They are going to reap what they have sown. BRAVE NEW EUROPE is one of the very few Resistance Media in Europe. We publish expert analyses and reports by some of the leading thinkers from across the world who you will not find in state and corporate mainstream media. Support us in our work
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