Iran's nuclear ambitions predate the clerical dictatorship that overthrew the monarchy in 1979
UPI / Arnaud de Borchgrave
08-Nov-2011

WASHINGTON, Nov. 7 (UPI) -- Iran's nuclear ambitions predate the clerical dictatorship that overthrew the monarchy in 1979. The late last monarch, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, reached the same conclusion when Britain, in 1968, suddenly relinquished all of its geopolitical responsibilities east of Suez -- from Singapore to the Suez Canal, including the Persian Gulf and the oil that then fueled most of the Western world.

Throughout the post-World War II era, Pax Britannica in the gulf was costing the British government $40 million a year.

The Nixon Doctrine stepped into the vacuum left by London's decision. This, in turn, led to the anointment of the shah as the guardian of the Persian Gulf that bore the name of Iran's worldly past.

 

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