American intervention in the Middle East
Encyclopedia
This article provides an overview of American interventions in the Middle East executed between 1941 and before the Iranian Revolution
in 1978-1979.
prior to the Second World War was minimal. Moreover, in comparison to European powers such as Britain
and France
which had managed to colonise almost all of the Middle East region after defeating the Ottoman Empire
in 1918, the United States was ‘popular and respected throughout the Middle East’. Indeed, ‘Americans were seen as good people, untainted by the selfishness and duplicity associated with the Europeans’. American missionaries had brought modern medicine and set up educational institutions all over the Middle East. Moreover, the US had provided the Middle East with highly skilled petroleum engineers. Thus, there were some connections, which were made between the United States and the Middle East before the Second World War. Other examples of corporations between the US and the Middle East are the Red Line Agreement
signed in 1928 and the Anglo-American Petroleum Agreement
signed in 1944. Both of these agreements were legally binding and reflected an American interest in control of Middle Eastern energy resources, namely oil
, and moreover reflected an American ‘security imperative to prevent the (re)emergence of a powerful regional rival’. The Red Line Agreement had been ‘part of a network of agreements made in the 1920s to restrict supply of petroleum and ensure that the major [mostly American] companies…could control oil prices on world markets’. The Red Line agreement governed the development of Middle East oil for the next two decades. The Anglo-American Petroleum Agreement of 1944 was based on negotiations between the United States and Britain over the control of Middle Eastern oil. Below is shown what the American President Franklin D. Roosevelt
had in mind for to a British Ambassador in 1944:
On August 8, 1944, the Anglo-American Petroleum Agreement was signed, dividing Middle Eastern oil between the United States and Britain. Consequently, political scholar Fred H Lawson remarks, that ‘by mid-1944, U.S. officials had buttressed their country’s position on the peninsula by concluding an Anglo-American Petroleum Agreement that protected “all valid concession contracts and lawfully acquired rights” belonging to the signatories and established a principle of “equal opportunity” in those areas where no concession had yet been assigned.’ Furthermore, political scholar Irvine Anderson summarises American interests in the Middle East in the late 19th century and the early 20th century noting that, ‘the most significant event of the period was the transition of the United States from the position of net exporter to one of net importer of petroleum.’
By the end of the Second World War, the United States had come to consider the Middle East region as ‘the most strategically important area of the world’. and ‘…one of the greatest material prizes in world history’. For that reason, it was not until around the period of the Second World War that America became directly involved in the Middle East
region. At this time the region was going through great social, economic and political changes and as a result, internally the Middle East region was in turmoil. Politically, the Middle East was experiencing an upsurge in the popularity of nationalistic politics and an increase in the number of nationalistic political groups across the region, which was causing great trouble for the English and French colonial powers.
History scholar Jack Watson explains that ‘Europeans could not hold these lands indefinitely in the face of Arab nationalism
’. Watson then continues, stating that ‘by the end of 1946 Palestine was the last remaining mandate, but it posed a major problem’. . In truth, this nationalistic political trend clashed with American interests in the Middle East region, which were, as Middle East scholar Louise Fawcett argues, ‘about the Soviet Union
, access to oil and the project for a Jewish state in Palestine
.’ Hence, ‘‘‘Arabist’ ambassador Raymond Hare’ described the Second World War period, as ‘the great divide’ in United States’ relation with the Middle East, because these three interests would later serve as a backdrop and reasoning for a great deal of American interventions in the Middle East and thus also come to be the cause of several future conflicts between the United States and the Middle East.
The Sha of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was opposed to the nationalisation of Iranian oil as he feared this would result in an oil embargo, which would destroy Iran’s economy and thus, the Sha was very concerned with the effect of Mosaddeq’s policies on Iran. Equally worried were workers in the Iranian oil industry, when they experienced the economic effect of the sanctions on Iranian oil exports which Mosaddeq’s policies had resulted in, and riots were happening across Iran.
Thus, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi asked Mosaddeq to resign, as was the Sha’s constitutional right, but Mosaddeq refused, which resulted in national uprisings. The Sha, fearing for his personal security, fled the country but nominated General Fazlollah Zahedi as new Prime Minister. Although General Fazlollah Zahedi was a nationalist, he did not agree with the Mosaddeq’s lenient attitude towards the communist Tudeh party, which the United States had also become increasingly concerned with, fearing Soviet influence spreading in the Middle East. Therefore, when in late 1952, the British government asked the U.S. administration for help with the removal of Mohammed Mosaddeq, the U.S. administration agreed and ‘Allen Dulles, the director of the CIA , approved one million dollars on April 4, 1953 to be used “in any way that would bring about the fall of Mossadegh” Consequently, after a failed attempt on August 15, ‘on August 19, 1953, General Fazlollah Zahedi succeeded [with the help of the United States and Britain] and Mossadegh was overthrown. The CIA covertly funneled five million dollars to General Zahedi’s regime on August 21, 1953’.
This CIA operation, often referred to as Operation Ajax
and led by CIA officer Kermit Roosevelt, Jr.
, ensured the return of the Sha on August 22, 1953.
Although accepting large sums of military aid from the United States in 1954, by 1956 Egyptian leader Nasser
had grown tired of the American influence in the country. The involvement that the U.S. would take in Egyptian business and politics in return for aid, Nasser thought ‘smacked of colonialism’. Indeed, as political scholar B.M. Bleckman argued in 1978, that ‘Nasser had ambivalent feelings toward the United States. From 1952 to 1954 he was on close terms with U.S. officials and was viewed in Washington as a promising moderate Arab leader. The conclusion of an arms deal with the USSR in 1955, however, had coded the relationship between Cairo and Washington considerably, and the Dulles-Eisenhower decision to withdraw the offer to finance the Aswan High Dam in mid-1956 was a further blow to the chances of maintaining friendly ties. Eisenhower’s stand against the British, French, and Israeli attack on Egypt in October 1956 created a momentary sense of gratitude on the part of Nasser, but the subsequent development of the Eisenhower Doctrine, so clearly aimed at “containing” Nasserism, undermined what little goodwill existed toward the United States in Cairo’.‘The Suez Crisis of 1956 marked the demise of British power and its gradual replacement by USA as the dominant power in the Middle East.’ The Eisenhower Doctrine became a manifestation of this process. ‘The general objective of the Eisenhower Doctrine
, like that of the Truman Doctrine formulated ten years earlier, was the containment of Soviet expansion.’ Furthermore, when the Doctrine was finalised on March 9, 1957, it ‘essentially gave the president the latitude to intervene militarily in the Middle East … without having to resort to Congress.’ indeed as, Middle East scholar Irene L. Gerdzier explains ‘that with the Eisenhower Doctrine the United States emerged “as the uncontested Western power…in the Middle East’
Meanwhile, in Jordan
nationalistic anti-government rioting has broken out and the U.S. decides to send a battalion of Marines to Lebanon
in case of possibly having to intervene in Jordan later that year. Moreover, attempting to keep the pro-American King Hussein of Jordan, pro-American and in power, the CIA starts to make secret payments of millions of dollars a year to King Hussein. In the same year, the U.S. supports allies in Lebanon, Iraq, Turkey and Saudi Arabia and sends fleets to be near Syria as Syria’s government has executed nationalistic and pro-Soviet policies the same year.
However, 1958 is to become a difficult year in U.S. foreign policy; in 1958 Syria and Egypt are merged into the “United Arab Republic”, anti-American and anti-government revolts are occurring in Lebanon, causing the Lebanese president Chamoun to ask America for help, and the very pro-American King Feisal the 2nd of Iraq is overthrown by a group of nationalistic military officers. It was quite ‘commonly believed that [Nasser]…stirred up the unrest in Lebanon and, perhaps, had helped to plan the Iraqi revolution.’
The American interventions in the years before the Iranian revolution have all showed to be based on economics, but more so have been influenced and led by the international Cold War context.
. U.S. intervention in both Afghanistan and Pakistan started with the Carter Administration after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
The relations of the U.S. with Afghanistan
and Pakistan
have been closely tied to the War on terrorism
that has happened there. American policy has been instrumental in coordinating the ongoing conflicts in Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. In recent times, political situations of both countries have been bracketed under a single theater of operations, denoted by the newly-coined American term "AfPak
."
Iranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution refers to events involving the overthrow of Iran's monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and its replacement with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the...
in 1978-1979.
Background
The United States’ relationship with the Middle EastMiddle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
prior to the Second World War was minimal. Moreover, in comparison to European powers such as Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
which had managed to colonise almost all of the Middle East region after defeating the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
in 1918, the United States was ‘popular and respected throughout the Middle East’. Indeed, ‘Americans were seen as good people, untainted by the selfishness and duplicity associated with the Europeans’. American missionaries had brought modern medicine and set up educational institutions all over the Middle East. Moreover, the US had provided the Middle East with highly skilled petroleum engineers. Thus, there were some connections, which were made between the United States and the Middle East before the Second World War. Other examples of corporations between the US and the Middle East are the Red Line Agreement
Red Line Agreement
The Red Line Agreement is the name given to an agreement signed by partners in the Turkish Petroleum Company on July 31, 1928. The aim of the agreement was to formalize the corporate structure of TPC and bind all partners to a self-denial clause that prohibited any of its shareholders from...
signed in 1928 and the Anglo-American Petroleum Agreement
Anglo-American Petroleum Agreement
The Anglo-American Petroleum Agreement was a failed attempt by the British and American governments to establish a lasting agreement to manage international petroleum supply and demand...
signed in 1944. Both of these agreements were legally binding and reflected an American interest in control of Middle Eastern energy resources, namely oil
Oil
An oil is any substance that is liquid at ambient temperatures and does not mix with water but may mix with other oils and organic solvents. This general definition includes vegetable oils, volatile essential oils, petrochemical oils, and synthetic oils....
, and moreover reflected an American ‘security imperative to prevent the (re)emergence of a powerful regional rival’. The Red Line Agreement had been ‘part of a network of agreements made in the 1920s to restrict supply of petroleum and ensure that the major [mostly American] companies…could control oil prices on world markets’. The Red Line agreement governed the development of Middle East oil for the next two decades. The Anglo-American Petroleum Agreement of 1944 was based on negotiations between the United States and Britain over the control of Middle Eastern oil. Below is shown what the American President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
had in mind for to a British Ambassador in 1944:
Persian oil …is yours. We share the oil of Iraq and Kuwait. As for Saudi Arabian oil, it’s ours.
On August 8, 1944, the Anglo-American Petroleum Agreement was signed, dividing Middle Eastern oil between the United States and Britain. Consequently, political scholar Fred H Lawson remarks, that ‘by mid-1944, U.S. officials had buttressed their country’s position on the peninsula by concluding an Anglo-American Petroleum Agreement that protected “all valid concession contracts and lawfully acquired rights” belonging to the signatories and established a principle of “equal opportunity” in those areas where no concession had yet been assigned.’ Furthermore, political scholar Irvine Anderson summarises American interests in the Middle East in the late 19th century and the early 20th century noting that, ‘the most significant event of the period was the transition of the United States from the position of net exporter to one of net importer of petroleum.’
By the end of the Second World War, the United States had come to consider the Middle East region as ‘the most strategically important area of the world’. and ‘…one of the greatest material prizes in world history’. For that reason, it was not until around the period of the Second World War that America became directly involved in the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
region. At this time the region was going through great social, economic and political changes and as a result, internally the Middle East region was in turmoil. Politically, the Middle East was experiencing an upsurge in the popularity of nationalistic politics and an increase in the number of nationalistic political groups across the region, which was causing great trouble for the English and French colonial powers.
History scholar Jack Watson explains that ‘Europeans could not hold these lands indefinitely in the face of Arab nationalism
Arab nationalism
Arab nationalism is a nationalist ideology celebrating the glories of Arab civilization, the language and literature of the Arabs, calling for rejuvenation and political union in the Arab world...
’. Watson then continues, stating that ‘by the end of 1946 Palestine was the last remaining mandate, but it posed a major problem’. . In truth, this nationalistic political trend clashed with American interests in the Middle East region, which were, as Middle East scholar Louise Fawcett argues, ‘about the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, access to oil and the project for a Jewish state in Palestine
Mandate Palestine
Mandate Palestine existed while the British Mandate for Palestine, which formally began in September 1923 and terminated in May 1948, was in effect...
.’ Hence, ‘‘‘Arabist’ ambassador Raymond Hare’ described the Second World War period, as ‘the great divide’ in United States’ relation with the Middle East, because these three interests would later serve as a backdrop and reasoning for a great deal of American interventions in the Middle East and thus also come to be the cause of several future conflicts between the United States and the Middle East.
Israel
In 1947, the U.S. and the Truman administration, under domestic political pressure, pushed for a solution and resolution on the Arab-Israeli conflict, and on May 1948 the new state of Israel came into existence. This process was not without its fights and loss of lives. Nevertheless, ‘the first state to extend diplomatic recognition to Israel was the United States; the Soviet Union and several Western nations quickly followed suit. No Arab state, however, recognized Israel.’Syria: 1949
In Spring 1949, the elected government of Syria is overthrown and ‘according to former CIA agent Miles Copeland, …he and another CIA officer who was Assistant Military Attaché at the U.S. embassy in Damascus engineered the March 1949 coup in which Chief of Staff Husni Zaim overthrew President Shukn al - Quwatli.’ This resulted in the establishment of a dictatorship under Colonel Za’im.Mosaddeq and the Shah
Opposed to foreign intervention in Iran and a keen nationalist, Mohammed Mosaddeq became the prime minister of Iran in 1951. Thus, when Mosaddeq was elected he chose to nationalise the Iranian oil industry, where previously British holdings had generated great profits for Britain through the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. Furthermore, prior to the nationalisation of Iranian oil Mosaddeq had also cut all diplomatic ties with Britain.The Sha of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was opposed to the nationalisation of Iranian oil as he feared this would result in an oil embargo, which would destroy Iran’s economy and thus, the Sha was very concerned with the effect of Mosaddeq’s policies on Iran. Equally worried were workers in the Iranian oil industry, when they experienced the economic effect of the sanctions on Iranian oil exports which Mosaddeq’s policies had resulted in, and riots were happening across Iran.
Thus, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi asked Mosaddeq to resign, as was the Sha’s constitutional right, but Mosaddeq refused, which resulted in national uprisings. The Sha, fearing for his personal security, fled the country but nominated General Fazlollah Zahedi as new Prime Minister. Although General Fazlollah Zahedi was a nationalist, he did not agree with the Mosaddeq’s lenient attitude towards the communist Tudeh party, which the United States had also become increasingly concerned with, fearing Soviet influence spreading in the Middle East. Therefore, when in late 1952, the British government asked the U.S. administration for help with the removal of Mohammed Mosaddeq, the U.S. administration agreed and ‘Allen Dulles, the director of the CIA , approved one million dollars on April 4, 1953 to be used “in any way that would bring about the fall of Mossadegh” Consequently, after a failed attempt on August 15, ‘on August 19, 1953, General Fazlollah Zahedi succeeded [with the help of the United States and Britain] and Mossadegh was overthrown. The CIA covertly funneled five million dollars to General Zahedi’s regime on August 21, 1953’.
This CIA operation, often referred to as Operation Ajax
Operation Ajax
The 1953 Iranian coup d'état was the overthrow of the democratically elected government of Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh on 19 August 1953, orchestrated by the intelligence agencies of the United Kingdom and the United States under the name TPAJAX Project...
and led by CIA officer Kermit Roosevelt, Jr.
Kermit Roosevelt, Jr.
Kermit "Kim" Roosevelt, Jr. , was a political action officer of the Central Intelligence Agency's Directorate of Plans who coordinated the Operation Ajax, which aimed to orchestrate a coup d’état against Iran's prime minister, Mohammed Mosaddeq, and return Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran,...
, ensured the return of the Sha on August 22, 1953.
Egypt 1956: The Suez Crisis
Today ‘more than a quarter of the world’s oil are shipped through the Suez Canal’Although accepting large sums of military aid from the United States in 1954, by 1956 Egyptian leader Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein was the second President of Egypt from 1956 until his death. A colonel in the Egyptian army, Nasser led the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 along with Muhammad Naguib, the first president, which overthrew the monarchy of Egypt and Sudan, and heralded a new period of...
had grown tired of the American influence in the country. The involvement that the U.S. would take in Egyptian business and politics in return for aid, Nasser thought ‘smacked of colonialism’. Indeed, as political scholar B.M. Bleckman argued in 1978, that ‘Nasser had ambivalent feelings toward the United States. From 1952 to 1954 he was on close terms with U.S. officials and was viewed in Washington as a promising moderate Arab leader. The conclusion of an arms deal with the USSR in 1955, however, had coded the relationship between Cairo and Washington considerably, and the Dulles-Eisenhower decision to withdraw the offer to finance the Aswan High Dam in mid-1956 was a further blow to the chances of maintaining friendly ties. Eisenhower’s stand against the British, French, and Israeli attack on Egypt in October 1956 created a momentary sense of gratitude on the part of Nasser, but the subsequent development of the Eisenhower Doctrine, so clearly aimed at “containing” Nasserism, undermined what little goodwill existed toward the United States in Cairo’.‘The Suez Crisis of 1956 marked the demise of British power and its gradual replacement by USA as the dominant power in the Middle East.’ The Eisenhower Doctrine became a manifestation of this process. ‘The general objective of the Eisenhower Doctrine
Eisenhower Doctrine
The term Eisenhower Doctrine refers to a speech by President Dwight David Eisenhower on 5 January 1957, within a "Special Message to the Congress on the Situation in the Middle East". Under the Eisenhower Doctrine, a country could request American economic assistance and/or aid from U.S. military...
, like that of the Truman Doctrine formulated ten years earlier, was the containment of Soviet expansion.’ Furthermore, when the Doctrine was finalised on March 9, 1957, it ‘essentially gave the president the latitude to intervene militarily in the Middle East … without having to resort to Congress.’ indeed as, Middle East scholar Irene L. Gerdzier explains ‘that with the Eisenhower Doctrine the United States emerged “as the uncontested Western power…in the Middle East’
Meanwhile, in Jordan
Jordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
nationalistic anti-government rioting has broken out and the U.S. decides to send a battalion of Marines to Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
in case of possibly having to intervene in Jordan later that year. Moreover, attempting to keep the pro-American King Hussein of Jordan, pro-American and in power, the CIA starts to make secret payments of millions of dollars a year to King Hussein. In the same year, the U.S. supports allies in Lebanon, Iraq, Turkey and Saudi Arabia and sends fleets to be near Syria as Syria’s government has executed nationalistic and pro-Soviet policies the same year.
However, 1958 is to become a difficult year in U.S. foreign policy; in 1958 Syria and Egypt are merged into the “United Arab Republic”, anti-American and anti-government revolts are occurring in Lebanon, causing the Lebanese president Chamoun to ask America for help, and the very pro-American King Feisal the 2nd of Iraq is overthrown by a group of nationalistic military officers. It was quite ‘commonly believed that [Nasser]…stirred up the unrest in Lebanon and, perhaps, had helped to plan the Iraqi revolution.’
The Six Day War and Black September
In 1963, after unsuccessful results from supporting anti-government Kurdish rebels in Iraq, the U.S. decides to support a coup by the Ba’ath party to overthrow the Qassim regime, which has maintained relations with the Soviet Union and allowed the existence of the Iraqi Communist Party. Moreover, in June 1967 Israel is attacked by Egypt, Jordan, and Syria, precipitating the short Six Day War in which Israel annexes the West Bank, Golan Heights, and Sinai Peninsula. The U.S. supports Israel with weapons and continues to support Israel financially throughout the 1970s. On September 17, 1970: With U.S. and Israeli help, Jordanian troops attack PLO guerrilla camps, while Jordan's U.S.-supplied air force drops napalm from above. U.S. deploys the aircraft carrier Independence and six destroyers off the coast of Lebanon and readies troops in Turkey to support the assault. The U.S. threatens to use nuclear weapons against the Soviet Union if it intervenes. 5000 Palestinians are killed and 20,000 wounded. This massacre comes to be known as "The American interventions in the years before the Iranian revolution have all showed to be based on economics, but more so have been influenced and led by the international Cold War context.
Afghanistan and Pakistan
Afghanistan and Pakistan, though situated in Asia, are considered part of the Greater Middle EastGreater Middle East
The Greater Middle East is a political term coined by the Bush administration to group together together various countries, pertaining to the Muslim world, specifically Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Various Central Asian countries are sometimes also included. Some speakers may use the...
. U.S. intervention in both Afghanistan and Pakistan started with the Carter Administration after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
The relations of the U.S. with Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
and Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
have been closely tied to the War on terrorism
War on Terrorism
The War on Terror is a term commonly applied to an international military campaign led by the United States and the United Kingdom with the support of other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as well as non-NATO countries...
that has happened there. American policy has been instrumental in coordinating the ongoing conflicts in Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. In recent times, political situations of both countries have been bracketed under a single theater of operations, denoted by the newly-coined American term "AfPak
AfPak
AfPak is a neologism used within US foreign policy circles to designate Afghanistan and Pakistan as a single theater of operations.This policy approach introduced by the Obama administration along with the cooperation of its top commanders and allies regards the nations of Afghanistan and Pakistan...
."