Abstract
This chapter covers the US attempt to establish dialogue with Ayatollah Khomeini in January 1979. The objective of the dialogue, however, was sharply contrasted in the minds of administration principals. For Carter and his national security advisor, the goal was to persuade the Ayatollah not to disrupt the establishment of the Bakhtiar government. The intention of Sullivan and Vance was to prepare the ground for a successful post-Shah relationship. The speed of events in Iran brought the contrasted approaches closer together. In a span of three weeks, the Carter administration’s policy shifted from enthusiastic support for Bakhtiar’s civilian government to vague advocacy of compromise among all factions in a united front against the communist intrusion. As in the past, Khomeini rejected all formulae embracing the existing constitution.
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Notes
- 1.
Sullivan, Mission to Iran, 222; Vance, Hard Choices, 336–7; Sick, All Fall Down, 133–4.
- 2.
Sullivan, Mission to Iran, 223; Vance, Hard Choices, 337; Sick, All Fall Down, 133; Rubin, Paved with Good Intentions, 240.
- 3.
Sick, All Fall Down, 134.
- 4.
Sullivan, Mission to Iran, 223; Sick, All Fall Down, 134.
- 5.
The Shah’s take is made clear by Sullivan in cable to DOS 00560, January 11, 1979, DSWL.
- 6.
Sick, All Fall Down, 133; Vance, Hard Choices, 336.
- 7.
Vance, Hard Choices, 337.
- 8.
Carter, White House Diary, 276, entry January, 10, 1979.
Vance, Hard Choices, 337.
- 9.
Sullivan to Vance, secret, cable, 00514, January 10, 1979, DSWL.
- 10.
Carter, White House Diary, entry January 10, 1979, 276.
- 11.
Vance, Hard Choices, 338.
- 12.
Ibid., 341.
- 13.
Yazdi memoirs, 3.269–70; to be noted that Yazdi kept meticulous records of all conversations.
- 14.
Ibid.
- 15.
Ibid.
- 16.
Yazdi memoirs, 3.274.
- 17.
Sullivan to Vance, 00713, January 15, 1979, DSWL.
- 18.
Sullivan to Vance, 00754, January 16, 1979 DSWL; Stemple, Inside the Iranian Revolution, 160; US Embassy SITREP, 00566, January 11, 1979, DSWL.
- 19.
Sullivan to Vance, 00754, January 16, 1979, DSWL.
- 20.
Hartman (US ambassador to Paris) to Vance, 1979PARIS01887, January 18, 1979, DSWL.
- 21.
Yazdi notes of the meeting of January 15 with Zimmerman, Yazdi memoirs, 3.275.
- 22.
In a nutshell, a provisional revolutionary government would arrange for an elected Constituent Assembly to rewrite the constitution following which a newly elected parliament would hand over power to a government chosen according to the new constitution; Zimmerman report to Washington, cable PARIS01398, January 15, 1979, DSWL.
- 23.
Ibid.
- 24.
Hartman (Ambassador in Paris) to Vance, 01887, January 18, 1979, DSWL.
- 25.
Yazdi memoirs, 3.279–80.
- 26.
Ibid.
- 27.
U.S. Embassy in Paris, 01398, January 15, 1979, DSWL; 1979PARIS 01648, January 16; 1979PARIS01887, January 18 DSWL; 1979PARIS02006, January 19 DSWL; 1979PARIS02465, January 24, DSWL and 1979PARIS02949, January 27, 1979 DSWL.
- 28.
Yazdi memoirs, 3.273–88; see also Sick, All Fall Down, 140, 143–4.
- 29.
Transcript of Carter press conference, Washington, January 17, in the New York Times, January 18, 1979.
- 30.
Bernard Gwertzman, “US Sees Consensus Developing In Iran”, New York Times, January 21, 1979.
- 31.
Vance to Hartman, 012218, January 17, 1979, DSWL.
- 32.
Vance to Sullivan, 015583, January 20, 1979, DSWL; Sick: 143; Vance, Hard Choices, 338–9; Huyser, Mission to Tehran, 159.
- 33.
Sullivan to Vance, Secret, 01049, January 22, 1979, DSWL; Vance, Hard Choices, 338–9; Huyser, 178.
- 34.
US Embassy Paris, 02503, January 25, 1979 DSWL; Huyser, Mission to Tehran, 164–5.
- 35.
Vance, Hard Choices, 339.
- 36.
US Embassy, Paris, 1979PARIS02465, January 24, 1979, DSWL.
- 37.
US Embassy, Paris, 1979PARIS02949, January 27, 1979, DSWL.
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Bayandor, D. (2019). The United States’ Attempt at Dialogue with Ayatollah Khomeini. In: The Shah, the Islamic Revolution and the United States. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96119-4_17
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