Unforeseen Consequences: The U.S. Role in Iran’s Military Rise

In a toast for his Imperial Majesty Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson once proclaimed, “the ornament of a house is the friend who frequents it”. Throughout his reign of 38 years, the Shah became a glimmering ornament in the White House, frequently meeting with U.S. presidents from Dwight D. Eisenhower to Jimmy Carter. During the Shah’s reign, Iran was valued as one of the most dependable U.S. allies in the Middle Eastern region. This relationship became especially strong during the Johnson administration (1963-1969), during which Iran transitioned from a client state that was controlled and supported by the U.S. into an emerging partner.

Prior to Johnson, the U.S. was widely concerned with Iranian political, social and economic reform. The U.S. believed that the key to long-term stability in Iran relied on economic prosperity and wanted to support them in those endeavors. Consequently, during the Cold War, Iran frequently supported U.S. policies in Vietnam and the Dominican Republic. However, there was a significant roadblock in the U.S.-Iran relationship because the Shah had an insatiable appetite for military equipment that Washington could not tame. Therefore, in order to keep the Shah’s demands at bay, the Johnson administration adopted a policy of stalling. The U.S., believing they had Iran in their pocket, had no reason to imagine that Iran would turn towards other countries to increase their weapons arsenal. 

However, U.S. reluctance to provide Iran with the suitable amount of weapons requested, forced the Shah to turn towards U.S. adversaries to bolster his weapons stockpile. In particular, the Soviets had offered the Shah several squadrons of advanced MiG 21 aircrafts. This incident fractured the relationship between Washington and the Shah, which ended up being a necessary step that helped Iran acquire more weapons from the U.S. despite their hesitancy to provide them. In November of 1965, the Shah decreed that he was seeking $200 million in military purchases to meet Iran’s vital security needs. The U.S., knowing that Iran could obtain weapons from its adversaries, barred the transaction between Iran and the Soviets and gave Iran the military upgrades they had been asking for. 

This story would repeat itself throughout the years: the Shah would argue that “the continued military weakness of Iran may make it susceptible to the evils of aggression,” and then re-utter his threat of seeking arms elsewhere. Consequently, the U.S. would hand over a couple million dollars to expand Iran’s artillery. It was a fairly reasonable deal between the two: the U.S. would supply Iran with state of the art American-made weapons whilst also supplying it with an influx of American culture. In turn, the U.S. had easy access to Iranian oil. 

With this agreement, not only did Iran get richer in arms, but it also got richer in American culture as the Shah’s government became increasingly pro-Western while he sought to modernize the country. However, tensions were mounting among the population  as the relationship between the U.S. and Iran flourished, and eventually they boiled over during the 1979 Iranian revolution. 

The revolution resulted with the ousting of the Shah and the end of the powerful alliance between Iran and the United States, which put to an end the influx of arms into Iran and the outflux of oil. Nevertheless, no more arms were needed as Iran’s armed forces lay equipped with state of the art equipment after years of trade. 

In the present day, tensions continue to rise between Iran and the United States. Ironically, the U.S. is fighting against an army of its own making. Although American influence was banished from Iran in 1979, the American artillery left behind was not. Fleets of naval destroyers, motor torpedo boats and squadrons of F-4C fighter jets were left in the hands of a new anti-Western government. This impressive array of weaponry has not gone to waste, rather Iran has decided to “share the wealth” by sending over ships loaded with weapons to the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Treaties such as the Iranian Nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Actions, have seeked to ease tensions between Iran and several world powers including the United States. The Nuclear deal was set to prevent a revival of Iran’s nuclear weapons program and thereby reduce the prospects for conflict. However, the deal has fallen into jeopardy since President Trump withdrew from it in 2018, giving rise to a more resentful and belligerent Iran.  

In tandem with the U.S. withdrawal from the Nuclear deal, throughout the years the U.S. has also conducted multiple rounds of seizures on Iran’s ammunition. These seizures are aimed to disrupt vessels en route to smuggle weapons to the Houthis and other Iranian backed groups. Lately, the US has transferred this seized Iranian military equipment to the Ukrainians. These efforts to weaken Iran’s military are a direct result of the long and complex history between these two countries. Today, there is mounting evidence to demonstrate that the U.S. is trying to break down the enemy they themselves spent so much time creating.