After an agreement in 1907 the central parts of Iran were designated a buffer zone. While northern Iran became Russian’s zone of influence and southern Iran became the British zone of influence. These two powers occupied Iran during World War I. Later Iran approached Germany in order to protect itself from British and Soviet pressures but with the beginning of World War II, Iran was occupied once again by the Russian and the British armies. In 1955 Iran joined the Baghdad Pact established to encircle the Soviet Union, but this pro-western attitude didn’t help to eradicate the communist opposition movements in this country and created a political atmosphere facilitating the Islamic Revolution in 1979. When Khomeini returned to Iran from Paris where he had lived for several years, he adopted an anti-American, anti-British and anti-Soviet foreign policy. Meanwhile, he maintained relatively good relations with France and Germany. During the Iran-Iraq war the US and the UK supported Iraq, while France and the Soviet Union supported Iran. By the way, it was revealed that in 1997, in order to obtain a natural gas contract, the French company Total had bribed the National Iranian Oil Company. In 1974, France concluded a billion dollar nuclear investment deal with Iran and enriched uranium from France’s Pierlatte nuclear site was transferred to Iran without taking into consideration UN sanctions.
Today, Iran gives the image of a country stuck between, on the one hand the pressure of the US and the UK, and on the other Russian interests. As in the past Teheran is trying to reinforce its ties with a third European country but this policy is exactly what is making things difficult right now.
The US tries to keep Iran and the powers acting through it away from its Middle-Eastern and Iraqi projects. But the US has failed and has transformed Iran into a powerful symbol of resistance. That’s why the possibility of a nuclear Iran is seen as a positive development by some countries. That’s one reason encouraging Iran to circulate banknotes with atomic symbols on it. But history shows that Iran makes mistakes and changes its destiny when it feels trapped between two antagonist blocs. Today, with the release of the sailors, Iran wants to save itself from this delicate situation. The unrest has been growing between the US and Iran since the beginning of the Iraqi War and the US has started to organize military maneuvers in the Persian Gulf. Iran avoided being trapped during this important period full of tension. But at this point the UK came back on the scene and managed to put Iran in a difficult situation in which Teheran could make many mistakes; but Iran managed not to be trapped once again.
Iran tries to show to the world that its power should not be underestimated. But it also pushed all European states to the UK’s side. It should be noted that the US didn’t react until the EU’s reaction was made public. The capture and the release of the British naval personnel could have helped repair relations between the European states but Iran didn’t wait long enough. This glue would not help the US obtain support from the European states. This situation has again showed that Iran’s destiny is still connected to the relations between Iran and Russia on the one hand and to the UK-Iran relationship on the other.
