Iran-US Relations

by Lt. Colonel Denny Gillem (Ret)

Grand Rapids, MI -- In early 1977 I returned from 3 years in Germany.  I became the Middle East War Planner for US Readiness Command at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida.  Iran was our ally against the Soviet Union.   Western companies worked in Iran to develop their oil industry.  Then the Shah of Iran was deposed by radical Shia Muslims; of course, they took over the oil industry. 

In 1979 our embassy in Iran was invaded and everyone there was taken prisoner.  Attacking an embassy is an act of war.  After some unsuccessful attempts to at least get our citizens freed, we tried a military rescue attempt which was a total failure.  Readiness Command was the team that should have led the rescue attempt, and we weren’t even consulted, a major leadership failure.  

I remained in my role for a bit more than two more years.  Thus, I have the background of our relationship with Iran and have maintained it, yes, without access to classified information.  President Carter was unable to achieve anything; the day Ronald Regan became president the hostages were released; Regan had negotiated the release and released holds on a lot of Iranian investments that had been frozen when our embassy fell.  Regan also made it clear that there would be consequences if the hostages were not freed.

From the beginning, Iran’s radical leadership referred to us as the "Great Satan" and Israel as the "Little Satan."  The leadership style of Iranian leadership was based on their very radical Suni Muslim form of religion—and that includes killing all non-believers.  They quickly became the primary supporter and director of terrorist groups that regularly attack Israel—primarily Hamas and Hezbollah.  They were behind the attacks on our military several times—always with no hostile response by us. 

Two examples:

On Oct 27, 1983, a US Marine barracks in Beirut was attacked by a truck full of explosives; 241 Marines were killed.  A few minutes later a French military barracks was similarly attacked. 

And on 12 Oct 2000, while in port in Aden, our destroyer, the USS Cole, was attacked by a small boat; 17 sailors were killed and many wounded.  There is no doubt that Iran was behind these. Then they began building nuclear reactors—stating that their only purpose was to create energy, which everyone knew was a lie. 

Then, they started getting their focus on developing nuclear warheads.  It was very clear to Israel that they would be the target for the first nuclear warhead and they took it very seriously.  It was also clear to those paying attention that we would also be a target.  Perhaps that was why President Obama had about $1.6 billion US dollars flown over to Iran. 

President Biden also sent over several billion dollars.  And, yes, there were negotiation talks. 

It was clear to many of us that Iran was just milking our nation for as much as it could get while continuing on its path to nuclear weapons.  And, yes, Iranian leaders worked closely with both Russia and Communist China. While we have some sources in Iran, Israel really has people there, and we share information. 

When it became clear that Iran was very, very close to being able to create nuclear warheads, it was time to act.  As everyone knows, last year we and Israel attacked the warhead manufacturing facility with a heavy bombing attack.  That did slow things down in nuclear warhead production, and it delivered a message that we were no longer just asking for Iran to behave.  But that didn’t work.

Iran received the very best air-defense weapons available from China.  They felt that they were ready, should we try another air attack. As Iran went back to creating nuclear warheads, it was clear to both us and Israel that we had to act again.  The estimate was that Iran would have functional nuclear warheads in about two weeks. 

So, we struck and began the current war.  Our war is not against the people of Iran—indeed, all evidence shows that they’ve been unhappy with their dictators for a long time.  The Iranian government has been actively killing thousands of their own people over the last year.  It is hoped and expected that the people will rise up and take control of their government.  It is definitely not our goal to take over Iran.

If, as some have suggested, that we had decided to wait another month to see what might happen, and, two weeks ago both the US and Israel were hit with nuclear warheads, would everyone be happy?  No.  Leaders have to make decisions at critical times, and that was done.

The next challenge will be as Iran seeks to close the Straits of Hormuz which will end all oil shipments out of the area.  This will hurt many nations.  But the nation that depends the most on Iranian oil is – China.

Respectfully yours,

Lt. Colonel Denny Gillem (Ret)

Podcast Host: "AmericasFrontlines.com"