Iranian unity stops West in tracks: Mohammad Marandi

Press TV has interviewed Mohammad Marandi, a professor at the University of Tehran, from Tehran, to discuss lessons learned from the Revolution of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

What follows is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: Looking back after all these years, what does this day represent and what place does it hold in Iran’s modern history?

Marandi: I think it’s a very important day because it’s reflective of Iran’s attempt to gain political and economic interest from Western hegemony.

But I think it was also a number of lessons of what has to be learned from that experience, one is not to trust major powers. The Iranian government at that time, the national government, was naïve about the American role, and the Iranian prime minister at that time was too trustful of the United States, and that trust led to basically the overthrow of the national government.

The other is the issue of national unity. One of the failures of the government at that time was…the different groups together, both the religious and national groups, and that the divisions helped the United States and the British overthrow the Iranian government, and this set the country back decades.

I think it’s sort of important for Iran today especially since Iran’s been independent since the Revolution. The Iranian government today as well as administrations of the past in defense of Iran’s independence and right now with regards to the nuclear program is something that is very important. I think people know that unity now is very important for the country so that again divisions won’t allow Western hegemonic powers to take advantage of the situation.

Also I think the Iranian government and the states have learned from the past mistakes not to be naïve about the role of Western countries and their intentions. While it was a painful past for Iran, I think the Iranians have learned a lot from it.

Press TV: One last question before we leave you. Some scholars see a connection between the nationalization of Iran’s oil industry and Operation Ajax. Do you see it in that light as well?

Marandi: Yes, without a doubt. The prize for the British and the Americans was Iran’s oil resources, Iran as a whole; but in that particular case, Iran’s oil wealth. They managed after overthrowing the Iranian government, for decades they took Iran’s oil wealth.

That which was basically left for Iran was spent by the Shah to buy American weapons and other goods. The country was exporting six million barrels a day of oil at a time when the population during the time of the Revolution was less than 35 million.

Despite all that, it was a very backward country, economically speaking. More than half the people were illiterate at the time of the Revolution.

So, the Americans were taking the Iranian wealth. They were selling, really, junk in return, and the Iranians were the losers on both accounts.

But again, I think that despite the failure of the attempt to nationalize Iranian oil at that time, I think the lessons have been learned and that is one reason why the Iranians have been much more sophisticated after the Islamic Revolution with regards to its sovereignty and Western hegemony.