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25 Years Ago in West Asia

A view of the northern suburbs of Tehran, population 12 million, capital city of Iran

Israel invades Jordan during the 1967 Six-Day War and occupies the West Bank. The "West Bank" means the region on the west bank of the River Jordan around the city of Jerusalem. Israeli occupation of the territory remains a serious source of tension to this day.

In 1968, a bloodless military coup in Iraq topples the monarchy established at the end of the First World War. The nationalist Baath party, first under Al Bakr and then Saddam Hussein, takes power.

Although Iran was an American ally, the US support for Israel in the 1973 Arab-Israeli war sees Iran launch the oil boycott. Europe and the United States had become dependent on oil shipments from Iran, Iraq and Arabia, and the boycott forced prices to skyrocket. The result was an economic crisis in Europe and the United States.

The Americans never forgave the Shah of Iran, Reza Pahlavi, for the boycott. Combined with unresolved social problems, the Americans supported a revolt against the Shah led by the Islamic clergy. In 1979, the Shah was forced into exile, and the Ayatollah Khomeini, himself back from an exile in Paris, declared the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran. However, the new republic is even more unco-operative with the Americans than the shah had been, resulting in a long period of hostility between the United States and Iran that lasts to this day.

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