THESE SOVIET MOVES CONCERN THE U.S.

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-01601R000300120001-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 29, 2000
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: May 14, 1972
• Content Type: NSPR

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14 Mgy?1972 STATINTL
Approved For Release 200'1/03/04: CIA-RDP80-01601 R00
H _`i NII ?Y J. TAYLOR
These Soviet Moves
IRAN .IS the world's fourth largest oil producer and the
Soviet could sniff out in a twinkling Iran's four main ports
and its now '$92 million Kharg Island oil-loading station' on
the Persian Gulf. The Soviet fleet is moving -into the vacuum
created by the British Navy's departure from the Persian
Gulf and this will give the U.S.S.R. a firm hand on the
area's oil faucet.
As a result, the Kremlin has tricked under Its belt a
C 0110- z + to contract to build near Isfahan Iran's first steel mill. The
government's Iran National Oil Company has made a'$40
Behind the scenes the -U.S.S.R. Is demonstrating again million contract with Techno-Export, a Soviet firm, to develop
how beautifully it plays both sides of the street. Unrevealed, and exploit an oil field in southern Iran. The Shah has
Iran is the current proof-likewise proving the truism that authorized the purchase of Soviet aircraft, military equip-
the Communists never do anything openly that they can ment, All ethi
The Kremlin's
is hi hl relevant to our ' future
.
c
achieve by stealth, g y
The Kremlin proceeds like a good gen- current behind-the-scenes pressure on the Shah of Iran is
eral moves on the battlefield, taking one the frontal push against a Soviet Mediterranean strategy
pivotal position to dominate the next pivotal dedicated to a military-political outflanking of NATO and
position. And immense Iran is a vital pawn all of Western Europe.
n
ti
.
o
in the Soviet's Mediterranean penetra
Britain's influence in maintaining stabil-
ity. in the Middle East has all but vanished.
The British have abandoned states and
rulers that they established and supported.
The expanded Soviet Mediterranean fleet
has turned what had long been a British
take into a potential focal point for nuclear confrontation. We
have heard much about' this. But the erosion of the Mideast
situation and the subversion of existing regimes in. oil-rich
Arab countries is the current intent.
THIS IS NOT VISIONARY. The Arab governments are
shot through with individuals whose real loyalties are to
dissident factors. And most Arabs are willing to pay high
.for what they call "akhad taro" - their revenge.
Iran Is the bitter. foe of. Iraq. That nervous country, more
than twice the ? size of Utah, . stands beyond Iran in the
sequence of continuous pivotal places to be dominated in
changing the geopolitical balance in. the vital European-
Mideast area.
The Kremlin's subversives are at work in Baghdad, Iraq's
capital, ? burrowing everywhere like fiddler crabs busy at
their hidden business in the sand. And from what I myself
have seen of President Ahmed -Hassan al-Baler, he is about
as reliable as a skid-row alcoholic. '
Our Central Intelligence Agency has reported to Secretary
of State William P. Rogers that the Soviet subversion results
have so frightened President al-Bakr that he has secretly
agreed to place an estimated 12,000 troops in Jordan and
another 6,000 in Syria as part of the general Kremlin-supported
confrontation with Israel. Further, he has accepted new oil
development loans from the U.S.S.R. Meanwhile, Iraq has
publicly signed a friendship treaty with the Soviet Union.
"INSHALLAII" (God willing) is. the' key word and phil-
orld and this was President al Baler's
th
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A
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osop
utterly unsatisfactory answer to these actions, reports the
CIA to Secretary Rogers.
Thus the pro-American Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza
Pahlevi, is caught anew in the Soviet nutcracker.
The worried Shah's country is larger than Alaska. In
fact, it is nearly as large as all America east of the Missis-
sippi, Iran,: derived from Aryan and long referred to as
Persia, borders on the U.S.S.R., Afghanistan, Pakistan and
Turkey as well as Iraq.
It,5Soviet border is more than 1,000 miles long. The
Trans=lranian railroad has 4,100 bridges and 54 miles of
tunnels. These mean easy crippling by an enemy. Its air-
ports at the capital, Teheran, and at Isfahan, Shiraz and
Abadan are totally vulnerable.
Approved For Release 2001/03/04: CIA-RDP80-01601 R000300120001-8