Document: Invite

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IRAN

7^th century – Iran has been predominantly Muslim since the 7^th century, officially Shiite for the past few hundred years. They were never part of the Ottoman empire. (The middle east ©2006 C Catherwood).

1853 – The Persian government t exiled people (non Muslims), to Baghdad Iraq, then part of the Ottoman Empire. (History Today.April 2013 UK).

1868 – Gertrude Bell was born in 1868 she traveled to Iran Persia where her uncle was British minister in Tehran. During the first world war she joined the Arab bureau based in Basra, she was area spymaster and controlled among others the father of Kim Philby. (Empires children ©2009 Anton Gill).

1908 – The discovery of oil. The first strikes were made by the Anglo Persian oil company in 1908 in Iran. Winston Churchill, the First Lord of the admiralty, ordered conversion of Royal Navy ships to oil. (History Today. July 2014 UK p54).

1908 – The Anglo Iranian oil company discovered the first major oil deposits in southwest Iran. Britain recognized that oil from these vast fields would soon be critical to the Royal navy’s new fleet of oil burning super combatants like the Dreadnought. The newly discovered Persian oil fields would become crucial to the continued rule of the seas. (Americas wars ©2003 Huchthausen).

31 Aug 1909 – Opium in Persia. Manawatu Times NZ. Papers Past.

31 Aug 1909 – In Persia. Colonist NZ. Papers Past.

31 Aug 1909 – Opium trade in Persia. Wanganui Herald NZ. Papers Past.

31 Aug 1909 – Opium smoking in Persia. Taranaki Herald NZ. Papers Past.

1921 – Rheza Khan ruled Iran.

1941 – British Soviet forces invade, son Muhammed Reza Khan. Pahlavi was installed.

1941 – British and Soviet forces entered Iran to secure an overland route for land lease supplies flowing to the Soviet Union and to pre empt German occupation of the vast Persian oil fields. The British and Soviets jointly unseated Reza Shah Pahlavi and installed his 21 years old son Mohammad Reza Pahlavi instead. (America wars ©2003 P Huchthausen).

1942 – Stalin delayed the withdrawl of Soviet troops from northern Iran, where they had been stationed since 1942 as part of a British Soviet deal to keep Iran’s oil supplies out of German hands. (The cold war ©2005 JC Gaddis).

April 1943 – Rudi Hamburger GRU espionage was arrested for espionage and sabotage by US security in Iran. Russian agents were spying on British and US in Iran on behalf of the Red army. (Treachery C Pincher ©2011 UK).

1945 – During the Tehran conference in 1943 Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt pledged formal support for Iran’s territorial integrity and independence. Six months after the war ended the British and Americans withdrew from southern Iraq and tried to establish a client state. Soviet forces withdrew 1946. Iranian communist Terdeh party. (Americas wars ©2003 P Huchthausen).

1945-46 – In 1945 the communist Tudeh party, working with the Soviet,s overthrew the central government in the Azerbaijan and Kurdistan regions of Iran. The young Shah’s gendarmarie assisted by US military advisors crushed this leftist uprising in 1946.

Feb 1946 – Stalin agreed to withdraw Soviet troops from northern Iran by Feb 1946. Preparations began for their reinforcement along with the formation of a separate movement in the Iranian province of Azerbaijan. (Cold war ©1993 M Walker).

1947-53 – Dr Robin Zaehner, was at the British embassy in Tehran until 1947. Bribing the Persian press. He returned in 1951 for the Anglo American overthrow of the Mossadegh government in 1953. (The hidden hand. Richard J Aldrich ©2001 UK).

4 Feb 1949 – A gunman tried to assassinate the Shah of Iran. The Shah responded by outlawing the Tudeh party and proclaiming martial law.

1951 – Iran’s PM Mohammed Mossadegh nationalized the British petroleum company assets. CIA agent Kermit Roosevelt plan to assassinate Mossadegh, the CIA replaced Mossadegh with the Shah. Kermit Roosevelt was a CIA employee. (The secret history of the American empire. John Perkins. ©2007 US).

22 March 1951 – Iran nationalized the oil industry.

May 1951 – Mass rallies and a general strike in the British owned oil industry organized by the outlawed Tudeh party, the Shah appointed Mossadegh as PM. Mossadegh enacted an oil nationalization law and appropriated the British Iranian oil company installations.

1952-53 – 12 June 1952 the Iranian Army Chief of Staff warned that a coup by Tudeh was likely. US Ambassador was Loy Henderson. Robin Zaehner was a UK covert specialist in Iran. The Rashidian brothers were the main SIS agents in Iran. On 4 April 1953 Allen Dulles provided $1 million for the fall of Mossadegh. (The hidden hand. Richard J Aldrich ©2001 UK).

1953 – Deak and company, a money changing and private banking group was founded by Nicholas Deak, who served in the OSS, the CIAs WW2. Deak assisted the CIA on several occasions. In 1953 he provided untraceable cash for a covert operation in Iran. The overthrow of the PM Mohammad Mosaddeq which enabled the Shah to return to power. Operation Ajax.

1953 – Of total arms sales nearly half of $3.9 billion were going to Iran. When he had first been put on the throne by the British in 1941 he was regarded as a puppet by the British government and British oil company Anglo Iranian (later BP), coming to power in 1951. Dr Mossadeq, who nationalized the oil company and exiled the Shah. He was only reinstalled with the help of a coup instigated by the CIA and British secret service, as his oil revenues increased, he was becoming an increasingly important customer for arms. It was Theodore Roosevelt who organized the coup which overthrew Mossadeq and restored the Shah in 1953. (Arms bazaar ©1977 A Sampson).

1953 – Lockheed made use of the New York firm Deak and company, which specialized in quietly transmitting currencies abroad. It was set up by Nicholas Deak, a former Hungarian who had been an officer of the OSS. The forerunner of the CIA, and it had 20 subsidiaries offices overseas. Deak was believed to have been sometimes used by the CIA, to finance the coup against Mossadeq in 1953. (Arms bazaar ©1977 A Sampson).

1953 – The Iranian army 120,000 troops.

1953 – When a Soviet backed coup threatened the Shah in 1953, President Eisenhower authorized Operation Ajax to oust Mohammad Mossadegh who had the support of the communist Tudeh party. The plan was directed by Kermit Roosevelt of the CIA. The operation was a success and in return the Shah gave American and British oil companies each 40% of the Iranian oil consortium. (Americas wars ©2003 Huchthusen).

1953 – 19 August 1953 there was street fighting in which 300 people were killed. There was a tank battle near Mossadegh’s home. A team of five Americans went to Iran to train members of a security service called SAVAK. (The hidden hand. Richard J Aldrich ©2001 UK).

1953-54 – The US and UK intervened using the CIA in covert political action to reverse the Iranian nationalization of oil, broaden US commercial access, and overthrow the government of Mossadegh and restore the Shah. (Compassionate peace ©1982 AFSC).

1954 – Iranian army officers, directly assisted financially and logistically by the CIA, military troops, occupied government offices and arrested Mossadegh, while crowds of CIA paid protesters marched through Tehran in popular support for the shah against Mossadegh. The Shah returned to Iran accompanied by Allen Dulles the director of the CIA and Kermit Roosevelt, the agent who masterminded the coup to return him. Increasing oil revenues, the Shah built a massive military establishment.

1957 – In 1957, with the aid of the CIA and Mossad, the National security organization SAVAK of Iran was formed. Brutal tactics in the 1970s. From 1957 to 1963 opposition to the Shah increased and many workers went on strike.

20 Feb 1960 – The US will sell Iran sidewinder air to air missiles. Military basis for a proposed reply to the Shah of Iran concerning his request for additional military assistance. Top secret position paper. Digital national security archive.

1962 – Agence Reza Pahlavi, the main financial front of the Shah of Iran, disbursed from account number 214895.20 of the Union bank of Switzerland in Geneva, one million dollars in the account of Mr Henry Luce in 1962. (Last days of America ©1981 Erdman).

12 April 1962 – The Shah of Iran and Defence Secretary Robert McNamara. Iran wanted operational sidewinder missiles for its F-86 fighter planes. Iran also wanted surface to air missiles SAMS to defend its airfields. (William Bundy US Iran relations Secret memo of conversation. digital national security archive).

June 1963 – Revolutionaries led by Shiite clergy developed into an open rallies and riots in 1963. The Shah put down the clashes with brutal force. In June 1963 hundreds of protesters in the city of Qom were killed. The unrest was instigated by the Ayatollah Khomeini, jailed and exiled to France after the 1963 riots. Khomeini continued to fuel Iranian dissent, sermons were smuggled into Iran on audio cassette tapes. (Americas wars ©2003 Huchthausen).

July 1963 – There were mass demonstrations by workers. In early June 1963 Ayatollah Khomeini openly denounced the Shah and his policies. Then in a move the armed forces struck at protesters in Qom, Tehran, Tabriz and Isfahan. Thousands of people were killed and Khomeini was arrested and exiled to Iraq.

July 1966 – Washington sold the new McDonnell Phantom fighters to Iran. The Shah then only seven months later made a deal with Russia to buy $110 million in military equipment Feb 1967. (Arms bazaar ©1977 Sampson).

1970s – Before the fall of the Shah of Iran, BCCI owned 15% of Iran’s Arab bank based in Tehran.

Early 1970s – While building a revolutionary movement in Iran. The exiled Ayatollah Khomeini actively supports the PLO and al-Fatah brigades, funding and training militant groups in Syria with Syrian aid on Syrian soil. Shiite muslim’s support the groups sunnis under protection of a secular dictatorship.

16 Nov 1972 – As part of Operation Enhance plus the US sold Iran air to surface missiles. The US allowed Iran to own fighter planes they had previously leased. (TR Pickering, Top secret cable, digital national security archive).

1973-77 – Joseph Farland successor in Iran was Richard Helms, Helms was CIA director from June 1966 until Feb 1973. Helms was forced out of the CIA in 1973 during Nixon’s second term. Helms picked Ambassador to Iran and served until 1977 when he left the government.

1973-78 – Iran spent about $18 billion on arms from the US, the single largest customer for US arms sales abroad at that time. By 1978 about 500 US companies were operating in Iran. A large contingent of military advisors about 45,000 American expatriates lived and worked in Iran. The average native Iranians annual income was $2,750. The Shahs brother in law accepted multi million dollar payoffs for help with contracts from the Textron corp. The Shahs sister shams in 1976 was arrested in Switzerland with $20 million of heroin in her car.

Feb 1973 – The Pentagon revealed that Iran had contracted to buy $2 billion worth of weapons from the US, the biggest single deal ever negotiated, it would include 175 jet fighters, 599 helicopters and numbers of air to surface missiles.

22 Dec 1973 – The petroleum ministers of 6 middle eastern countries met in Tehran. Mohannad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran, OPEC. During the 2 months before this meeting, OPEC had doubled the price of oil. OPEC quadrupiling of the oil price. Causing one of the biggest transfers of wealth in human history.

1974 – The US sells 78 F-14 fighter planes and 200 Phoenix air to air missiles to Iran. (AP 29 March 1979 Lexis nexis).

1975 – Bell helicopters delivered the first 300 16 seat helicopters to Iran in 1975, which 3 days later set a new record for maximum altitude. Shah of Iran, a war lord, was fascinated by gadgets. (Arms bazaar ©1977 A Sampson).

22 Jan 1975 – The growing US involvement in Iran. Secret report by the US Dept of Defence. Digital national security archive.

9 May 1975 – Negotiations between Iran and Hughes missile systems on co-production of the TOW and Maverick missiles are strained over the pricing structure. Hughes set the costs for Iran at $20 million for the TOW and $26 million for the Maverick. (Sidney Soler your meeting with the Shah at Blair house. Confidential memo to secretary of State Kissinger. Digital national security archives).

8 Dec 1975 – The Iranian army made a $352.8 million order for an upgraded tracked version of the Rapier missile launcher system. The British aircraft corp guided weapons division makes the Rapier and the upgraded version consists of 8 missiles. The Iranian army also ordered the American made M-548 tracked cargo carrier made by the PMC corp of California. The M-548 are designed to carry missile.

8 Dec 1975 – Iran orders tacked version of Rapier. Aviation week and space tech. Lexis nexis.

1976 – The Iranian army had more than 400,000 troops. By 1976 Iran imported 76% of the food products it consumed.

1987 – Kuross A Samii. Involvement by invitation, strategy of containment in Iran. Park Pennsylvania state uni press.

1992 – Louise Fawcett. Iran and the cold war. The Azerbaijan crisis of 1946. New York Cambridge uni press.

May 1996 – N I Yegorova. The Iran crisis of 1944-46. A view from the Russian archives CWIHP working paper #15.

15 May 1996 – Soviet Tudeh party. Natalia I Yegorova. The Iran crisis of`1945-46. Russian archives CWHIP white paper.

2001 – The 1953 coup in Iran. E Abrahamian. Science and society JSTOR. These archives remain inaccessible, a century has passed, the Pahlavi dynasty has fallen, the cold war has ended and most participants have died.

2001 – The history of Iran. Elton L Daniel. Westport CT Greenwood press. Worldcat database.

23 Oct 2009 – Andrea Stricker. A smugglers use of the US financial system to receive illegal payments from Iran. ISIS report. Institute for science and int security Washington.

13 Dec 2010 – Thai authorities, smugglers arrested at airport from Iran. BBC London. Heroin and cocaine.

3 Dec 2011 – Iran police seize 584kg of opium in southern Hormozgan region. BBC London.

1 Sept 2014 – Six myths about the coup against Iran’s Mossadegh. The National Interest. Documents, US State Dept Iran 1952-54. Newly declassified documents.

DMU Timestamp: August 12, 2014 17:47