Just Finished Reading: Revolutionary Iran – A History of the Islamic Republic by Michael Axworthy (FP: 2013)

It was a long time coming. After the coup in 1953 – engineered in co-operation with the British and Americans – which brought the Shah into power in Iran and which ousted an elected socialist government, the drift to authoritarianism was a gradual but steady one. Popular, and especially religious, resistance to increased westernisation grew in concert with American advertising, American movies and fashion and a relaxation on the rules surrounding the place of women. Impatient with the backwardness of his country the Shah pushed, pushed again and then pushed harder still. Something had to give and give it did. Protests sprang up across the country and were repressed sometimes bloodily. After 40 days of mourning for the dead even larger protests took place and then 40 days after that. It was a predictable cycle that both sides could use to their own advantage. As the bodies continued to pile up (or to simply ‘disappear’) it became clear that revolution was in the air. Serious talk took place in Washington about military intervention to save the Shah but, at the last minute, it was decided to let events take their own course. With the army torn between courses of action they issued a public statement that they would not interfere with the wishes of the people. Quietly the Shah and his wife left the country eventually arriving in the West. Arriving in Iran shortly afterwards was the man who had been influencing events from far away Europe – the Ayatollah Khomeini. Hailed as the saviour of the country he soon became both the political and religious head of the new Islamic Republic both demanded by and voted for by the people in overwhelming numbers. What followed as the decades passed no one really expected. Some thought that the religious leaders would fade into the background and allow the politicians to do their work guided by the principles of Shi’a Islam. Others assumed that an Islamic Republic would be welcomed by her co-religionists in the region with open arms. At least, the Iranians felt, now the rest of the world must start taking us seriously.   

Naturally almost every prediction of Iran’s future proved to be false. With revolutionary fervour in the air the American Embassy was overrun and hostages taken. With a failed (and honestly unrealistic) rescue attempt added to the mix US-Iran relations entered a place from which they had hardly recovered. A long and bloody war with its nearest neighbour Iraq with atrocities on both sides, the use of WMDs, threats to disrupt the flow of oil and attacks on American forces soured relations even more. Aid to the enemies of Israel in Gaza and Lebanon sealed Iran’s fate as the premier destabilising force in the region – enhanced further by the possibility of a nuclear Iran, an idea that was the stuff of Israeli nightmares on steroids.

But, as this not unsympathetic book points out, there is more to Iran than the news headlines we have all grown up with. There is the centuries of Iranian culture, there is the strong thread of democratic feeling flowing out into the streets despite the predictable violent response. There is a strong sense of their uniqueness and their place in the world – yet to be achieved. At times the narrative almost changed. Both the US and even Israel helped Iran over the years against Iraq in particular. If timings had been slightly different the whole Middle East situation could have been very different indeed. Told with a great deal of first-hand knowledge and a real love for the turbulent region this book is quite an eye opener – especially for someone like me who’s only real knowledge up to this point has been the nightly news. Watch this space for more on this endless fascinating and vexatious part of the globe.