Britain must avoid the public confrontation Iran is seeking

Published on Sunday 28 June 2009 21:59

THE arrest of nine Iranian citizens who work at the British embassy in Tehran, on trumped-up charges accusing them of helping to promote the recent anti-government demonstrations, is a clear attempt by the regime to shift attention away from its own troubles.

It is now quite clear there was massive fraud involved in the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Hundreds of thousands of Iranians took to the streets in protest only to be met by mass arrests and beatings. Yet resistance to the regime remains widespread and it now has a focus around the man who should have won the election, Mir Hossein Mousavi.

To deflect popular anger, and to discredit Mr Mousavi, the regime is trying to suggest the democratic opposition is being manipulated by the West in general and Britain in particular. Of course, these charges are nonsense and should be rebuffed using all the broadcasting and diplomatic means at our disposal. Unfortunately, Britain does have a long history of unwarranted meddling in Iranian affairs, going back to the time of our colonial empire in India and the need to use Iran as a buffer against Russia in the "Great Game" of big power diplomacy.

After the Anglo-Persian War of 1856, Britain unilaterally set Iran's border with India. Thereafter, Iran was forced to grant Britain unlimited access to its economy – a move that brought trouble after oil was discovered at the start of the 20th century. Churchill, as First Lord of the Admiralty, bought British state control of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company to guarantee fuel for Royal Navy ships. In the 1920s, when the Iranians revolted against interference in their affairs, Britain helped install Reza Shah as the new secular ruler, largely because he was anti-communist.

But Reza double-crossed London and sided with the Axis in the Second World War. He was overthrown in an Anglo-Russian invasion in 1941, in favour of his son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Early attempts at creating a democracy were cut short in 1953, when the CIA (with tacit British help) organised a coup to overthrow the elected government of Mohammed Mossadeq and to block the nationalisation of the oil industry. Afterwards, Pahlavi ruled as a dictator, but with a keen eye to protecting Western interests. He was overthrown in 1979. This time the result was a Shiite theocracy under the Ayatollah Khomeini.

It is too late to undo this history but it is not too late to undo some of the harm it caused. President Obama has already apologised for US involvement in the coup against Mossadeq – one reason why the regime has been forced to use Britain as a scapegoat. We should respond carefully to this latest provocation and avoid giving Tehran the public confrontation it seeks. One useful way forward would be to bring EU diplomatic pressure to bear, as Tehran is desperate for European investment. The lesson of history is that the Iranians must create their own democratic institutions, hard as that will be. But that time is getting closer.