Adjusting to a Revolutionary State

Ali, Luman

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-94406-7_7

Luman Ali⁴

Part of the book series: Security, Conflict and Cooperation in the Contemporary World ((SCCCW))

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Abstract

Ali analyses the post-revolutionary turmoil in Iran and how Sir John Graham and the British embassy in Tehran operated in a climate of chaos as the mob and Komitehs ran amok. Ali provides examples of the difficulties of dealing with revolutionary regimes such as the French, Bolshevik, and Chinese as well as chronicling the particular difficulties faced with engaging with the Iranian revolutionaries. A profile of Khomeini is provided by Ali with a focus on Khomeini’s attitudes towards foreign policy and his character traits which made engagement with him extremely difficult. The problems posed to Britain by the Shah in exile are also scrutinised by Ali.

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Notes

1.
Calvert, Peter, Revolution and International Politics (London, 1984), 159.
2.
CAB128/65, CM(79)8th (15 February 1979).
3.
Hiro, Dilip, Iran Under the Ayatollahs (London, 1985), 104.
4.
Ibid., 104.
5.
Bakhash, Shaul, The Reign of the Ayatollahs: Iran and the Islamic Revolution (London, 1985), 65.
6.
Ibid., 80.
7.
Daneshvar, Parviz, Revolution in Iran (Basingstoke, 1996), 133.
8.
PREM16/2131, TELNO258 (18 February 1979).
9.
Khomeini, Ruhollah (Translated by Algar, Hamid), Islam and Revolution: Writings and Declarations of Imam Khomeini (Berkeley, 1981), 34.
10.
Ibid., 439–440.
11.
Hussain, Asaf, Islamic Iran: Revolution and Counter-Revolution (London, 1985), 54.
12.
Martin, Vanessa, Creating an Islamic State: Khomeini and the Making of a New Iran (London, 2003), 126.
13.
Ibid., 150.
14.
Arjomand, Said Amir, The Turban for the Crown: The Islamic Revolution in Iran (New York, 1988), 138.
15.
Ganji, Babak, Politics of Confrontation: The Foreign Policy of the USA and Revolutionary Iran (London, 2006), 31.
16.
Ramazani, R. K., ‘Khumayni’s Islam in Iran’s Foreign Policy’, in Dawisha, Adeed (ed.), Islam in Foreign Policy (Cambridge, 1983), 19.
17.
Frey, Linda, and Frey, Marsha, ‘“The Reign of the Charlatans Is Over”: The French Revolutionary Attack on Diplomatic Practice’, The Journal of Modern History, Vol. 65, No. 4 (December 1993), 706–744.
18.
Calvert, Revolution and International Politics, 129.
19.
Senn, Alfred Erich, Diplomacy and Revolution: The Soviet Mission to Switzerland- 1918 (London, 1974), 1.
20.
Uldricks, Teddy J., Diplomacy and Ideology: The Origins of Soviet Foreign Relations 1917–1930 (London, 1979), 61.
21.
Frey and Frey, “The Reign of the Charlatans Is Over”, 708.
22.
Uldricks, Diplomacy and Ideology, 13.
23.
Ibid., 192.
24.
Ramazani, R. K., ‘Khumayni’s Islam in Iran’s Foreign Policy’, in Adeed Dawisha (ed.), Islam in Foreign Policy, 18.
25.
See Uldricks, Diplomacy and Ideology.
26.
Wheeler-Bennett, John, Brest-Litovsk: The Forgotten Peace (March 1918) (London, 1963), 113–114.
27.
Frey and Frey, “The Reign of the Charlatans Is Over”, 725–726.
28.
Craig, Gordon A., War, Politics and Diplomacy: Selected Essays (London, 1966), 251.
29.
Miller, Melanie Randolph, Envoy to the Terror: Gouverneur Morris & the French Revolution (Dulles, VA, 2005), 133.
30.
Interview with Graham (28 May 2013).
31.
PREM16/2131, Iran. Secretary of State’s Statement in House of Commons (20 February 1979).
32.
PREM16/2132, TELNO451 (21 February 1979).
33.
CAB128/65 (22 February 1979).
34.
CAB130/1097 (19 March 1979).
35.
Calvert, Revolution and International Politics, 120.
36.
CAB130/1097 (19 March 1979).
37.
PREM16/2132, TELNO463 (22 February 1979).
38.
PREM16/2132, John Hunt Memorandum to Prime Minster: A09006 (21 February 1979).
39.
FCO8/3379, Notes for European Political Co-operation: Political Committee: Paris 27–28 February 1979 (21 February 1979).
40.
FCO8/3379, FCO brief on Iran for European Council, Paris (1 March 1979).
41.
FCO8/3664, Letter by Bazargan (7 March 1979).
42.
Hiro, Iran Under the Ayatollahs, 106.
43.
Bakhash, The Reign of the Ayatollahs, 73.
44.
Hiro, Iran Under the Ayatollahs, 309.
45.
Byrd, Peter, ‘Introduction’, in Byrd, Peter (ed.) (1988), British Foreign Policy Under Thatcher (Oxford), 1.
46.
Dimitakis, Panagiotis, Failed Alliances of the Cold War: Britain’s Strategy and Ambitions in Asia and the Middle East (London, 2012), 183.
47.
Interview with Munro (13 February 2012).
48.
Ibid.
49.
Ibid.
50.
FCO8/3374, Iran: Recognition of the Government and the Position of the Shah (8 March 1979).
51.
FCO8/3374, Response by Denza to note by Gorham (9 March 1979).
52.
PREM16/2132, TELNO409 (12 March 1979).
53.
PREM16/2132, ‘Implication of Developments in Iran (EY (79) 15)’ (20 March 1979).
54.
PREM16/2131, Chilcot to Cartledge (14 February 1979).
55.
PREM16/2131, Lever to Cartledge (9 February 1979).
56.
PREM16/2132, Lever to Cartledge (21 February 1979).
57.
PREM16/2131, Cartledge to Lever (19 February 1979).
58.
PREM16/2132, Lever to Cartledge (5 March 1979).
59.
FCO8/3392, TELNO23 (23 March 1979).
60.
Ibid.
61.
FCO8/3392, Iran: Extradition Policy (30 March 1979).
62.
FCO8/3392, Iran: Entry to Britain by Members of the Shah’s Family (30 March 1979).
63.
Ibid.
64.
FCO8/3392, Lever to Cartledge (21 May 1979).
65.
FCO8/3392, Munro to Parsons (17 May 1979).
66.
Hughes, Michael, Inside the Enigma: British Officials in Russia 1900–1939 (London, 1997), 89.
67.
Rubin, Barry, Paved With Good Intentions: The American Experience and Iran (New York, 1980), 289.
68.
Hiro, Iran Under the Ayatollahs, 318.
69.
Ganji, Politics of Confrontation, 135–136.
70.
Vance, Cyrus R., Hard Choices: Critical Years in America’s Foreign Policy (New York, 1983), 368.
71.
Wells, Tim, 444 Days: The Hostages Remember (San Diego, 1985), 16.
72.
Ibid., 24.
73.
Farber, David R., Taken Hostage: The Iran Hostage Crisis and America’s First Encounter with Radical Islam (Princeton, NJ, 2005), 102.
74.
Bill, James A., The Eagle and the Lion: The Tragedy of American-Iranian Relations (New Haven, CT, 1988), 285–286.
75.
Farber, Taken Hostage, 9.
76.
Speech by Graham at Trinity College, Cambridge Commemoration Dinner, 9.
77.
Ibid., 18–19.
78.
FCO8/3395, Miers to Beamish (28 March 1979).
79.
Ibid.
80.
FCO8/3395, Miers to Beamish (3 May 1979).
81.
Brenchley, Frank, Britain and the Middle East: An Economic History 1945–87 (London, 1989), 259.
82.
FCO8/3395, Miers to Miller (30 May 1979).
83.
FCO8/3395, Miller to Munro and Tatham (30 May 1979).
84.
FCO8/3395, Gorham to Perry (11 July 1979).
85.
Ibid.
86.
Ibid.
87.
Hughes, Inside the Enigma, 125–126.
88.
Boardman, Britain and the People’s Republic of China, 1949–74, 82.
89.
Feng, The British Government’s China Policy, 1945–1950, 162–163.
90.
TNA. BT 241/2845.
91.
TNA. T381/189.
92.
Ibid.
93.
Ibid.
94.
Bank of England Archives. 13A3121. 9 July 1979.
95.
FCO8/3279, Papers for Incoming Minsters: Middle East Trouble Spots (12 April 1979).
96.
PREM19/76, TELNO584 (10 May 1979).
97.
FCO8/3374, TELNO610 (17 May 1979).
98.
FCO8/3395, Graham to Carrington (13 June 1979).
99.
Interview with Owen (23 May 2013).
100.
FCO8/3381, Heads of Government Meeting Lusaka, 1–8 August 1979 (9 July 1979).
101.
Sunday Times ‘Insight Team’, Siege!: Princes Gate, London, April 30–May 5 (London, 1980), 6.
102.
Meijer, J. M. (ed.), Trotsky Papers: 1917–1922 Vol I (London, 1964), 19.
103.
FCO8/3395, TELNO821 (7 August 1979).
104.
Frey and Frey, “The Reign of the Charlatans Is Over”, 724–725.
105.
Senn, Alfred Erich, Diplomacy and Revolution: The Soviet Mission to Switzerland—1918 (London, 1974), 11.
106.
Abrikosov, Dmitrii, Revelations of a Russian Diplomat (Seattle, 1954), 260.
107.
Ibid., 260.
108.
Ibid., 260–261.
109.
FCO8/3375, Graham to Chancery (2 September 1979).
110.
FCO8/3375, Gorham to Peretz (4 September 1979).
111.
Ibid.
112.
FCO8/3381, FCO brief on Lord Privy Seal’s Visit to the UN General Assembly: October 1979 (28 September 1979).
113.
FCO8/3375, Memo on British Embassy in Tehran (3 October 1979).
114.
FCO8/3285, Secretary of State’s Opening Remarks at Middle East Heads of Mission Conference, London (23 October 1979).
115.
FCO8/3375, Hannay to Moberly (26 October 1979).
116.
Trevelyan, Humphrey, Diplomatic Channels (London, 1973), 32.
117.
Speech by Graham at Trinity College, Cambridge Commemoration Dinner.

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Luman Ali

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Ali, L. (2018). Adjusting to a Revolutionary State. In: British Diplomacy and the Iranian Revolution, 1978-1981. Security, Conflict and Cooperation in the Contemporary World. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94406-7_7

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94406-7_7
Published: 20 July 2018
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-94405-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-94406-7
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