Ensuring the interests of the United States in line with the Sento Agreement

Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Pakistan and England entered into a regional military union in 1955 AD / 1334 AD by concluding an eight-article pact known as the Baghdad Pact. The purpose of concluding the Baghdad Pact, which was based on the initiative of Anthony Eden and Eisenhower, the British and American foreign ministers at the time, was to create a defense and security belt against the expansionism of the Soviet Union, protect the oil and gas reserves of the Persian Gulf region, and prevent the spread of communism. It was among the oil-rich countries in the region. This treaty was supposed to complement the North Atlantic Treaty (NATO) in Europe. This treaty was initially concluded between Iraq and Turkey with the agreement of Nouri Saeed, the Prime Minister of Iraq and Adnan Menderes, the Prime Minister of Turkey, and with the support of England. Shortly after these agreements, Iran, Pakistan and England officially joined it in Baghdad and this agreement was registered under the name of Baghdad Agreement.

The purpose of concluding the Baghdad Pact, which was based on the initiative of Anthony Eden and Eisenhower, then British and American foreign ministers, was to create a defense and security belt against the expansionism of the Soviet Union and finally to protect the oil and gas reserves of the Persian Gulf region and prevent the spread of ideology. Communism was among the oil-rich countries of the region.

Iran was the center of the security belt around the Soviet Union on the periphery of that country and it was strengthened with the help of the Sento Pact in the framework of the policy of preventing the development and progress of the Soviet Union, because the weakening of Iran and the Persian Gulf would cause the Soviet Union to dominate Europe and East Asia.

Richard Nixon, the President of the United States, believed that if a geopolitical line was drawn between the Middle East, that line would directly pass through Saudi Arabia, Iran, the Emirates, and the Strait of Hormuz; A strategic strait through which 40% of the world’s oil passes and twenty million barrels of oil will pass through it a day, at the rate of 800,000 barrels per hour.

Iran was also responsible for connecting NATO to the CENTO Treaty. In order to block the influence of communism, this defense chain started from Western Europe and the Northern Mediterranean, and ended at the extreme end of the eastern flank in Turkey, and led to Southeast Asia through Iran and Pakistan.

This treaty was supposed to complement the North Atlantic Treaty (NATO) in Europe. This treaty was initially concluded between Iraq and Turkey with the agreement of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Saeed and Turkish Prime Minister Adnan Menderes and with the support of England. Shortly after these agreements, Iran, Pakistan and England officially joined it in Baghdad and this agreement was registered as the Baghdad Agreement. Although the United States provided most of the logistical and financial support for the Baghdad Pact, it never officially joined it due to the avoidance of direct confrontation with the Soviet Union.

Mohammad Reza Shah’s goal of joining the Baghdad Pact was to gain international credit and benefit from Western financial aid and to protect Iran against the possible invasion of the Soviet Red Army. The experience of violating Iran’s neutrality twice during the two world wars and the occupation of the country by foreign forces made Iran look for powerful allies in the world, and in this regard, it chose the Western bloc and officially entered the Western bloc by becoming a member of the Baghdad Pact. And it was placed among its companions and allies. Of course, this action of Iran had opponents among the statesmen of the country, and they believed that Iran’s joining this pact would cause irritation to the powerful northern neighbor, and this would ultimately not be in Iran’s favor.

After learning about Iran’s accession to the Baghdad Pact, the Soviet Union issued strong statements in which they emphasized their opposition to Iran’s participation in this pact and called it an openly aggressive pact whose aim is to harm the peace and security of the region and the world. The Soviets believed that with Iran’s entry into the Baghdad Pact, the country’s southern borders would become a place for American and British military experts and spies, which would be against the interests and national security of the Soviet Union. On the same pretext and to show their protest against Iran’s action, the Russians prevented a delegation of 7 Russian musicians from traveling to Iran and prevented them from receiving the shipment of rice exported by Iran to that country.

In 1958 AD/1337 A.H., a group of communist officers of the Iraqi army, who clearly had pro-Soviet tendencies, staged a coup against King Faisal II, the Anglophile king of Iraq, and overthrew him and the royal system. Following this coup and the resulting developments in that country, the heads of the new Iraqi government, who felt close to the Soviet Union, withdrew from the Baghdad Pact to show their goodwill to the Soviet Union. As a result, the headquarters of this treaty was moved from Baghdad to Turkey and its name was also changed to Sento.

In the years when the Baghdad Pact existed, efforts were made for Lebanon, Syria and Egypt to join this pact, but in the end, due to Soviet opposition and Soviet financial and weapon support to the Syrian and Egyptian armies against Israel’s aggression, it was never accepted. The countries did not agree and it even caused tension between Iran and Egypt for a while during the time of Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, who was close to the Soviet Union.

On the other hand, the developments in Iraq scared Iran, Pakistan and Turkey, so that they desperately wanted America to join the CENTO Treaty. However, according to the considerations described above, the United States refused to join the treaty and instead proposed to these countries to sign a bilateral defense treaty with them, whereby if any of the parties were attacked by a third country, the other country would Help it quickly.

After the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1357 in Iran, this country officially withdrew from the Sento Pact, and shortly after, Turkey and Pakistan also withdrew from it, and thus the Sento Pact was officially dissolved in 1979, and Khrushchev’s wish, which in response to the Baghdad Pact He said that the Soviet Union would wait until this treaty disappeared like soap scum, and it came true.