Glance at the US Record of Failed Promises to Iran

Date: 20 January 2018 - 21:23

News ID: ۴۹۱۰۶

By: S. Nawabzadeh
It is said public memory is short and fickle. But what about the memory of politicians, especially of Iranian statesmen?
The Islamic Republic is not the Iran of the Qajars which was time and again deceived by the false promises of Russia and Britain, whose agents in the court in Tehran made sure that the Shahs would remember nothing of the bitterness of the disastrous treaties of Golestan and Turkamenchay, or the surrender of Herat and the bombardment of Bushehr – to name a few cases.
Neither is the Islamic Republic the Iran of the rootless Pahlavi regime, which was created by the British by placing on the Peacock Throne an obscure soldier of Caucasian origin to do their bidding, and the moment Reza Khan erred, his masters promptly replaced him with his meek son, Mohammad Reza, who was soon leased by London to the US as a loyal servant unrelated to the Muslim masses and totally subservient to Washington.
The Islamic Republic, was established in Iran by that Sage of the Age, Imam Khomeini (RA), whose political acumen, if it was well aware of pitfalls of the past it foresaw with precision the conspiracies of the future, and instilled in Iranians the insight to stay clear of the subterfuge of the US – the Great Satan, who on no account should be trusted.
Iran and the Iranian people are fortunate to have in Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, an indomitable leader whose prudence has continued to save the country from Washington’s devilry, as was clear when he forewarned those insisting on talks with the US in the framework of the 5+1 nuclear negotiations that they can go ahead if they so wish, but ought to be careful that Uncle Sam will never keep its promise.
Irrespective of whether the Democrats or the Republicans are in the White House, today it is crystal clear, to even the skeptics, that the US has no principles and to believe in its words is like succumbing to the temptations of the Satan.
Yes, we ought to have sharp memories, not just of the distant past in accordance with academic interests, but the recent events following the triumph of the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979.
It should be recalled that on Dey 30 which in 1981 corresponded to January 19, the US signed an agreement with the Islamic Republic of Iran in Algiers pledging to return tens of billions of dollars of illegally frozen assets and end interference in Iranian affairs, in exchange for release of its 52 nationals detained by Iran on capture of the US den of espionage into which the US embassy had been turned. The US never kept its promise, neither returning the Iranian money in the US, nor ending its plots against the Islamic Republic.
In other words, exactly 37 years ago the statement read: "The United States pledges that it is and from now on will be the policy of the United States not to intervene, directly or indirectly, politically or militarily, in Iran’s internal affairs.”
As noted by analyst Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich, from the onset, the US failed to uphold its own pledge. For instance, starting in 1982, the CIA provided $100,000 a month to a group in Paris styling itself the Front for the Liberation of Iran. The US provided support to two Iranian groups based in Turkey, one of them headed by General Bahram Aryana, the former Shah’s army chief with close ties to Bakhtiar.
In 1986, the CIA went so far as to pirate Iran’s national television network frequency to transmit an address by the defunct Shah’s son, Reza Pahlavi, over Iranian TV. The support did not end there. Reza Pahlavi had CIA funding for a number of years in the eighties. He solicited funds from the emir of Kuwait, the emir of Bahrain, the king of Morocco, and the ruling family of Saudi Arabia.
In 2002, Morris Amitay, vice-president of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs and ex-CIA head James Woolsey set up a group called the Coalition for Democracy in Iran (CDI). Along with this direct interference, in the following decade the US concentrated its efforts into putting a chokehold on the Iranian economy, despite the provision of the Algiers Accord "the United States will revoke all trade sanctions which were directed against Iran in the period November 4, 1979, to date.”
Embargoes and sanctions became the norm. Failing to topple the Islamic Republic through economic hardship, the US once again turned up pressure through broadcasts and direct support for terrorists.
This stranglehold was taking place while concurrently, and in violation of the Algiers Accords, the CIA front National Endowment for Democracy was providing funds to various anti-revolutionary groups.
According to Pakistani Intelligence, the US secretly used yet another terrorist group – the Jundallah, stage a series of deadly attacks against Iran.
While the US was conducting negotiations with Iran – as per the 5+1 group – which led to the signing of the Joint Comprehensive Plan Of Action (JCPOA), the MKO were delisted as a foreign terror organization – known as hypocrites in Iran for their treachery against the nation.
During the JCPOA talks, the US was busy flouting the Algiers Treaty, whose Item B preamble states: "Through procedures provided in the declaration relating to the claims settlement agreement, the United States agrees to terminate all legal proceedings in United States courts involving claims of United States persons and institutions against Iran and its state enterprises, to nullify all attachments and judgments obtained therein, to prohibit all further litigation based on such claims, and to bring about termination of such claims through binding arbitration.”
The US again failed to keep its pledge and a partisan legislation allocated millions for the former detainees.
Time and space do not permit the citing of every instance of the US violation of its treaty and pledges for the past 37 years. But never has its attitude been more brazen in refusing to uphold its pledge and its open violation of international law than when Donald Trump openly voiced support for rioters in Iran and called for overthrow of the government. The US then called an emergency UNSC session on January 5, 2018 to demand that the UN interfere in Iran’s internal affairs.
US history clearly demonstrates that it has no regard for international law. Its pledge is meaningless. International law is a tool for the US that does not apply to itself. This is a well-documented fact – and perhaps none has realized this better than the North Korean leader – Kim Jong-un.