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46
days of Peter the Great, who ruled from
1682
to
1725,
Russia has been trying to
expand southward tbrough present-day
lran in order to obtain warm-water
ports on the Persian Gulf.
Because of the immediate proximity
of its huge neighbor to the north, Iran
walks the thin line between caution and
friendliness.
In recent years, Soviet-lranian rela–
tions have improved somewhat. A big
factor is the Russian purchase of vast
quantities of Jranian natural gas. A
pipeline from the southern oil fields in
Jran, completed in
1970,
will soon be
transporting ten billion cubic meters
yearly to the USSR.
P ivot of Western Defense
Iran is in the very center of a string
of defensive alliances surrounding the
Soviet Union. Sbe has been called the
"center of CENTO" - the Central
Treaty Organization composed of Great
Britain, Turkey, Iran, and Pakistan.
Since CENTO is the center - and weak–
est segment- of tbe grand NATO–
CENTO-SEATO system of alliances,
Iran is in a way the keystone of the
whole structure.
With Britain's continua! military
pullout from the Persian Gulf arca, as
well as disengagement from the entire
region "cast of Suez,'' both London and
Washington are beginoing to look to a
politically stable Iran to help
lill
the
gap.
According to a recent dispatch in
Britain's
G11ardian:
"Britain and the
United States are reported to be quietly
supplying Iran with a formidable
amount of military aid so that, when
Britain withdraws from the arca east of
Suez, the vacuum may be filled and
peace maintained. The hope is that by
1975
lran would be the most powerful
country in the arca and capable of
preventing both Soviet and Arab adven–
tures after the British withdrawal."
British
and
Americans
Furoish Arms
The Teheran regime will reportedly
rcceive delivery of an additional
800
British Chieftain tanks by the end of
1975.
Also to be purchased for a Per–
sian Gulf pateo! are guided-missile–
equipped frigates and two classes of
l,..,n;#n M lnistr; of lnform•tton
Architect of lran's "White Revolution," Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi.
armored hover-craft. The American con–
tribution is said to consist of
172
jet
fighters and 6ghter-bombers.
If
these plans go through, Iran would
become a considerable military power
by
1975.
Her tank strength alone con–
sists of
1,500
modero British and Amer–
ican tanks. Iran's air force would then
be the most up-to-date and formidable
in the arca.
That Iran intends to be Number One
in the Persian Gulf region was amply
demonstrated in the bricf skirmish over
possession of three small Gulf islands
in late November. With littlc fighting,
lraoian troops occupied the tioy but
strategic rocky crags of Greater and
Lesser Tunb and half of the island of
Abu Musa. The islands are also daimed
by Amirates on the Eastern side of the
Gulf who were linked, until their recent
independence, by defensc treaties to
Britain. It is believed Britain would
rathcr sec future control of the islands
in the hands of the Iranians.
Sober Warning
In
1961,
beforc Iran's remarkable re–
surgence, the Shah,
in
a plea for mili–
tary assistance warned:
"To render Irao impotent would be
to provide one of the handiest ways of
outflanking both NATO and SEATO,
not to mention the outer countries of
CENTO. And
I
need oot labour the
point that an invasion of my country
from the north - or ao invasion from
anothcr direction inspired from the
north - would, if oot thrown back,
offer vast rewards to the aggressors.
"Our own warm-water ports and our
oil fields and other rich resourccs would
fall prey to the violators of inter–
national pcacc; and the way would lie