Foreign Policy: The Iran-Contra Affair

He essentially became the absolute ruler of Iran in little time. After the Shah’s rise to power, the Iranian g... ... middle of paper ... ... repercussions. In not fully considering the long term consequences, the United States were caught red handed in meddling with foreign affairs. The hostage crisis was the aftermath of America’s involvement. In becoming too involved, the United States now had to face Iran’s chaos.

The relations between the U.S and the Middle East are strained at best. The troops deployed in the area face constant threat of attack by a militant group. These broken relations between the U.S and the Middle East started over 50 years ago, with the Iran Hostage Crisis. Root causes of the crisis were many. One was U.S greed over oil in Iran.

By discussing the history of Iran, the Anglo-Iranian oil company, and Document NSC-68 I will try to prove once and for all that going through with the coup in Iran was a terrible mistake made by the United States. There were many aspects concerning the history of Iran that showed that the coup was a bad idea. The role of religion played a very influential part in the history of Iran. Many people living in Iran still to this day believe in the Zoroastrian religion. The beliefs associated with this religion may account for many of the uprisings and political protests aimed at the Shah and his power.

President Jimmy Carter did not let the Shah in because for political reasons, but for humanitarian reasons (Iran Crisis). Although President Carter had good intentions by doing this it unleashed a dislike toward Americans in the minds of of almost every Iranian (Iran Crisis). Underlying the attack on the United States Embassy were anti-American and anti-Carter

The 1980s saw great political and military action throughout the world. However, one particular event that took place began in the early 1980s which was the Iran-Contra Affair. The Iran-Contra scandal is said to be the result of President Ronald Reagan’s attempt to accomplish two things. The first being his desire to see that the Americans which were being held as hostages by Iran, to be freed and the second was that he wanted to provide assistance to the contras in Nicaragua by going around congress. As obvious and as famous as the previously mentioned appears to be, the key states or countries involved are a matter of investigation.

The Iran-contra scandal of the 1980’s, first brought to light in November 1986, is a complicated mess of scandal, arms dealings, hostage deals, and illegal acts (“Iran-Contra Affair” Infoplease.com). The original purpose of the arms sales was to improve United States-Iran relations (Sanders SNU.edu). However, when American hostages were taken throughout the 1980’s, members of President Reagan’s staff negotiated implicit deals with Iranian groups, which resulted in the U.S. selling arms in return for the release of hostages (Wolf PBS.org). Later, the deal was modified so that the U.S. sold arms directly to Iran at a high markup, with no guarantee of hostages being released, and the markup funding the contras in Nicaragua (“The Iran-Contra Report” Presidency.UCSB.edu). The contras were a Nicaraguan rebel group whom the Administration was forbidden by Congress to financially assist (“Iran-Contra Affair” Infoplease.com).

His second term which dealt mostly with foreign affairs marked a downfall in his reputation. As part of his foreign policy and an effort to stop the spread of communism, Reagan thought it was important to help the Nicaraguan insurgents, the contras, to end their communistic government. Under the Reagan Doctrine, which was constructed to oppose Soviet influence and had a lot of “support for anti- Communist revolutions” , the CIA was ordered to assist the contras with military activities. However, excesses made by CIA resulted in Congress ending the aid as funding money started running out. The Boland Amendment, which was signed earlier in 1984, “denied requests of assistance to Contras and prohibited any help from any nation or group.” However, the Reagan administration decided to continue arming and traini... ... middle of paper ... ...rule of law from being applied to the perpetrators of criminal activity of constitutional dimension.” With every effort taken, the Americans were finally released.

America’s only chance of rescuing the hostages was to put their support behind Iran in the Iran-Iraq War, which involved the shipment of weapons to Iran f... ... middle of paper ... ...es when it comes to implementing controversial foreign policy decisions that directly affect Americans and those in different countries. The main aspect of the affair that greatly influences the United States’ government is ensuring that its past imperialistic motives do not become an integral part of American affairs once again. Works Cited Boland Amendment. Decemmber 2010. http://www.fact-index.com/b/bo/boland_amendment.html (accessed Novemeber 2010). PBS.

The U.S president during this time, Ronald Reagan, fell in love with the contras belief system and fought to keep them funded. Later on the United States support became limited, which left the president in search of a new way to keep the Contras money flow regular. Soon after, former president Ronald Reagan and his administrators contrived a way to continue to fund the contras without the Congress approval. They concluded that selling arms and weapons to a harmless ally named Iran was the only way to go. They would sell the weapons to Iran in exchange for money, which would then be put into a secret bank account and sent to the Nicaraguan Contras.

This crisis had many impacts on the United States. It caused the Energy Crisis which in turn caused the Recession of 1979. The Iran Hostage Crisis also had political consequences for President Carter. It was a major factor that contributed to him losing the election of 1980 to Ronald Reagan. Additionally, this crisis led to many instances of racial discrimination toward Iranian-Americans and Iranian immigrants.