Understanding the Iranian Power Struggles Through History

Thanks to Mari for that report. And in order to gain better historical context into the Iran situation, we're now joined by Jacob Allador. He's director of the Center for American Security at the American First Policy Institute. He's also a historian of the Middle East. Thank you for joining us this morning, Jacob. I'd like you to provide some historical background on Iran prior to the 1979 revolution. We want to understand sort of what came before the Shah being overthrown. Absolutely. It's great to be with you. Well, this regime in Iran took over a vacuum basically in the 1960s and 70s. There was a lot of frustration at the time. Obviously, it was a monarchy and it wasn't obviously domestically without issues at the time. And so it seized on an opportunity and really became the most kind of coherent ideological force out there back in the day. And through the failures of certain thinkers in the United States as well on the left, there was this naive optimism that this was sort of a new form of representation of religious governance that might somehow be aligned with us, obviously completely mistaken. This is by many academics on the left and others. But historical analogies are obviously rarely exact. And I think what we've seen and what's really distinct today is that this is a regime that is a world force for terror. That is the objective behind U.S. action right now is to eliminate the threats that this basically terror organization poses to us through the nuclear, ballistic and other proxy means. And that is the objective that we are looking towards today. And Jacob, it seems as if almost there are very similar seeds, if you will, to what happened in Russia with Lenin, where Lenin wasn't even inside Russia until it had brewed to the point where he could kind of go into that power vacuum, as you described it. And we see that in China and in Cuba, where the people who actually helped form a coalition to overthrow the predecessor then get oppressed by that new regime themselves. Can you explain what happened when the Shah was overthrown to those people who actually participated in the regime change? Yeah, well, I mean, the regime came in, Khomeini's governance swiftly, they created these tribunals, obviously, a very brutal and dark chapter in Iran's history that obviously prefaced and presaged the four decades that we've seen of repression of tens of thousands of civilians killed and imprisoned. And the thing is, though, you know, you mentioned the historical analogies. And today, you know, you look at all the different global forces that have interests in Iran, the global impact that Iran has from providing missiles and drones to Russia, to its links with the cartels in Latin America and propping up adversarial regimes. So this is a wholly different situation in that there is an acute threat to the American people and to our allies around the world from this regime that is, as the vice president said on Fox, he mentioned, in a way making the fate of the regime incidental to the objectives that we have in eliminating the threats that it poses. And Jacob, can you take us through the various campaigns that the Iranian regime successfully executed against Americans, including the embassy hostage situation and the others that were significantly impactful? Well, we have to remember that this is, prior to 9-11, this is the top foreign-based source of terrorism against the United States, particularly the 1983 Beirut Marine Barracks attack that claimed the lives of 241 American service members. There was involvement, as well, in the USS Cole incident. And thereafter, as well, if you look through the record, the targeting of American personnel and soldiers, military personnel and civilians throughout the region and the world, the firing at bases that have caused many, many deaths, not to mention the attempted assassinations on U.S. soil, as well as of foreign leaders, including the Israeli ambassador to Mexico just in December, as well as on European soil, and, of course, attempts on President Trump's life, as well, by this regime. And so, it's vast, and it's continuous, and it's pervasive. And so, I think that is what we're looking at. That is the threat here, not to mention, of course, the homegrown network of terrorist cells that have been cultivated by the regime for all these decades. So, yeah, that's just the starting point. Well, there's so much historical background here. Appreciate you breaking it down for us, Jacob Olidor. Thank you. Thank you for having me.