General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Obama just compared Republicans to Iranians who chant "Death to America" [View all]erronis
(15,241 posts)"After the coup, the Shah ruled as an monarch for the next 26 years while modernizing the country using oil revenues, until he was overthrown in the Iranian Revolution in 1979. The tangible benefits the United States reaped from overthrowing Iran's elected government included a share of Iran's oil wealth and ensuring the Iranian nation remained under the control of an allied dictator. Washington continually supplied arms to the increasingly unpopular Shah and the CIA-trained SAVAK, his repressive secret police force; however by the 1979 revolution, his increasingly independent policies resulted in his effective abandonment by his American allies, hastening his downfall. The coup is widely believed to have significantly contributed to anti-American and anti-British sentiment in Iran and in the Middle East. The 1979 revolution deposed the Shah and replaced the pro-Western monarchy with a largely anti-Western authoritarian theocracy."
Of course we could siphon off untold wealth from Iran using the Shah/puppet. But the ensuing disruption and wars that occurred also poured wealth into the pockets of the warmongering groups in the west - primarily US and Britain - but also worked towards the personal wealth of the new Iranian xxocracy as well as other oil states in the region.