Last week, we reviewed some of the history behind US-Iran relations and the nature of Iran itself as a nation or a people. But I promised that I had more! This week, we have more juicy information, much of it within my lifetime (and probably yours). And much of it should be of immediate use in dealing with current anti-Iran talking points. Read on!
6. Khobar Towers Bombing
During the Second Gulf War of the early ‘90s, the US found itself in the awkward position of opposing Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait. Afterwards, the US retained a military presence in the region under the auspices of providing support and protection to the Kurdish and Shiite populations of Iraq. To do this, with Iran obviously not providing a hospitable environment from which to base their activities, they turned to Saudi Arabia. Dubbed Operation Southern Watch, the US flew thousands or sorties from Saudi territory and the US presence there did not go unnoticed or unopposed.
In June of 1996, terrorists executed a bombing of the Khobar Towers apartment complex in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, killing nineteen and wounding several hundred others. The complex had been used to house US personnel that were supporting Operation Southern Watch. With a characteristic quickness that persists to this day, both US and Saudi officials used none other than Iran as their scapegoat of choice for responsibility for the attack. A number of suspicious and fraudulent steps taken by Saudi Arabia at the time ensured that the official line of Iranian blame was upheld but within a short few years a substantial body of evidence showed that Al Qaeda was indeed to blame. So continued the trend of villainizing Iran at the expense of truth.
7. More Iranian Scapegoating
In May of 1987, during the heat of the Iran/Iraq war, the US remained loyal to Saddam Hussein and tensions remained high in the Persian Gulf. Against this backdrop, high profile mistakes were made. One includes the attack of the USS Stark. During a nighttime test, an Iraqi fighter pilot mistook the American ship as an Iranian one and hit it with two Exocet missiles. Despite the massive damage and constant fires, it was not sunk, but thirty-seven American sailors died and twenty-one were injured.
But though Hussein immediately took ownership of the action, claiming the ship was found in the Iraqi exclusion zone, and personally sent letters and gifts of apology, the Reagan administration took the opportunity to, instead, attribute blame to Iran, calling them the real villain and a “basic Iranian threat to the free flow of oil and to the principle of freedom of navigation.”
Another quickly followed in July of 1988 with the shooting down of Iran Air flight 655 by the USS Vincennes, killing all 290 passengers and crew aboard. Washington claimed that Captain Will Rogers III acted in defense of his ship in international waters, that the plane, identified as an Iranian F-14, was flying outside of commercial airspace and descending in an attack profile. In fact, none of this was true. The USS Vincennes was inside Iranian waters, the airliner was within its assigned and legal flight path, and was actually gaining altitude at the time. But, instead of admitting mistake, Washington avoided responsibility, in fact claiming that Iran must bear principal responsibility for the tragedy.
In the words of then Vice President George H. W. Bush, “I will never apologize for the United States— I don’t care what the facts are…I’m not an apologize-for-America kind of guy.”
8. Nuclear Program
With the recent “bombshell” press conference from Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli PM, claiming to have loads of evidence of secret Iranian nuclear weapons development, the Iranian nuclear question has again been thrust into the “national” spotlight. The obsession with Iranian nuclear capability actually goes back to decades past, nearing the end of the Cold War. With US-Iranian relations souring after the Iranian Revolution in 1979, and the Soviet Union’s influence waning, Iran no longer held the promise of an allied bulwark against Soviet influence in the Middle East. And with Iranian backing of Shia groups in Palestine and Lebanon that opposed Israeli expansion, along with their own anti-Israeli comments and sentiments, Iran has long been a target of Israeli demonization.
Iran has been “a year away from possessing a nuclear weapon” for decades now. But, unfortunately for Iran hawks, the evidence for and threat of Iranian nuclear weapons capability has long been suspect at best. Iran’s association with chemical weapons or WMDs (Weapons of Mass Destruction) in general dates back to the Iran-Iraq war when Saddam Hussein had begun using them against Iranian targets, military and civilian. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps then petitioned the Ayatollah multiple times to be allowed to develop chemical, biological, and even nuclear weapons to act as a deterrent and possible retaliatory measure. But the Supreme Ruler denied them, claiming that such weapons are not allowed by Islam. Whether other Islamic scholars would disagree with this conclusion is possible but irrelevant; the Ayatollah is charged with being the legal and spiritual leader of Iran and he had spoken.
As it relates to the recent JCPOA deal with Iran, misinformation continues to be used and spread. At least some of the intelligence claimed by Netanyahu to show secret Iranian nuclear weapons development comes by way of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, an anti-Iranian communist group that has a history of working with Israel to provide covert intelligence. To say that “evidence” of this sort may be suspect is an understatement. Furthermore, the IAEA, the international body responsible for conducting nuclear inspections and certifications has found Iran to be in compliance with the deal and meeting its commitments fully multiple times. Regardless of how one views the merits or flaws of the JCPOA or whether it should exist, the conclusion that Iran is free or inclined, now or in the past, to developing nuclear weapons is unwarranted.
9. Yemen
In a high profile press conference a few months ago, current UN ambassador Nikki Haley claimed to show evidence of an Iranian missile used by Houthi rebels in the ongoing conflict between Yemen and Saudi Arabia. Claims that Iran is allied with and actively supports the Houthis in Yemen have long been circulated. And with those claims, along with the US alliance with Saudi Arabia, the power allied against the Houthis, the presumption and implication is that, naturally, Iran and the Houthis by extension are on the wrong side of a nasty war. But is this presumption warranted?
The struggle in Yemen has been characterized by a few notable figures and groups fighting for dominance and power, namely that of Ali Abdullah Saleh, originally opposed by the Houthis, and Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. In 2011, then ruler Saleh was replaced by Hadi in a deal brokered with Saudi Arabia. But in 2014, the Houthis ousted Hadi, who then fled to Saudi Arabia. This sets the stage for much of the current power struggle, with Hadi and Saudi Arabia in the Yemeni north, and Saleh (killed in 2017) and the Houthis in the south.
The linking of the Houthi resistance and Iran is somewhat similar in nature to that of Iran and Hezbollah, at least conceptually. The southern Yemeni Zaidi population, those whom the Houthi militias claim to protect, are nominally Shia, as Iran largely is, which loosely parallels Iran’s solidarity with the Shia population of Southern Lebanon. However, despite the rhetoric, there has been very little substantiated evidence of material Iranian support of the Houthis, resigned to some small arms shipments and possible advisement from Hezbollah and IRGC officers. That support pales in comparison to US and Saudi support of the northern Yemeni forces, the US providing mid-air refueling for Saudi bombers and even participating in the naval blockade of southern Yemen which has caused massive starvation and disease among the civilian population. Whatever Iran’s level of support for Houthis in Yemen, the US has a far larger log in their own proverbial eye.
10. Demonization (Axis of Evil, Sponsor of Terrorism, Bush)
There are many blanket accusations and claims that are routinely thrown around in speeches and op-eds related to the demonization of Iran. The most prevalent and poignant of those have typically involved Iran being part of an “axis of evil” and the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism.
The first comes from a famous 2002 speech in which then President George W. Bush lumped Iran together with Iraq and North Korea in an axis of evil regimes. A cursory understanding of the history and nature of the three countries certainly show that they have hardly anything in common: An Islamic republic, a secular dictatorship, and a Communist dictatorship, one with little evidence of even pursuing Weapons of Mass Destruction, with no demonstrable similarities in goals or alliance. And yet the label has stuck and has lasting consequences, especially in the case of North Korea, which was actually in the middle of negotiations with the US and South Korea to curtail its nuclear weapons program. Those negotiations failed soon after.
In every respect, the idea that Iran represents a leading state sponsor of terrorism in the world, past or present, is preposterous. The closest one might come is the association of Iran with Hezbollah and their terrorism campaign of the ‘80s, though even that is thirty years in the past. Historically, it has been Sunni Muslim groups, not Shia as Iran’s population primarily constitutes, that constituted the vast majority of terrorist attacks and deaths. Recent terrorism reports show that ISIL, Boko Haram, the Taliban, and al-Qaeda constitute the top terrorist threats and make up some 74 percent of all deaths from terrorism. All of these groups are Sunni groups, none of which are supported by Iran. In fact, it is long-time US and Israeli ally Saudi Arabia which has provided the most support for fundamentalist Islam and its associated terror activities, past and present.
I sincerely hope that this information has helped to clarify your understanding of the character of Iran and its recent history as well as clearing the air of much of the misinformation that pervades the current political climate. Whether or not Iran is a noble global actor or warrants our support is irrelevant. What is important is acknowledging their features and flaws and using accurate information to draw our conclusions from. Iran is far from perfect but that does not mean that they deserve nearly the criticism they have received of late.
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Special thanks to Kyle Anzalone for review. Kyle Anzalone is the host of the Foreign Policy Focus podcast and the editor-in-chief of Immersion News. His writing can be found at the Libertarian Institute.