Why can’t we be friends (with Iran)?

Following on our classic video clip by the band War, on the 3^rd of October a ruling was handed down by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) regarding a little-known treaty that had existed between the US and Iran since 1957. The ruling stated that the US was in violation of the Treaty of Amity, with US sanctions on Iran after having pulled out of the JCPOA (the Iran nuclear deal). The ruling further stated that the sanctions related to foodstuffs, medicines and spare parts for civil aviation had to be rescinded and normal relations restored, citing that the actions of the Trump administration were damaging the humanitarian security of the Iranian state. The Americans had argued that the court had no jurisdiction in the matter. The ICJ is the primary judicial arm of the UN, to which the US is a signatory. The ruling, which is equivalent to an injunction, will take about a year for a full ruling, but it was unanimous and was a win for Iran. The American response was immediate and predictable, given the current climate in Washington. The Trump administration rejected the ruling out of hand and decided it would tear up the treaty, further adding that it would be examining all such agreements as a result.

The ruling of the ICJ comes at a time when the current US administration is taking a wrecking ball to many international relations and agreements, calling all international relations with the US into question. Astrologically, Saturn was in partile opposition at the time of the ruling, within one minute of arc, to the US Venus, ruling the 10^th house (the Trump administration), the 11^th house (friendship) and the 6^th house (military and services). Further, transiting Mars was partile the US south node, marking a conflict from the past, and transiting Ceres was on the US Saturn and square the US Sun, marking a turning point. This event was indeed a turning point, which will become apparent toward the end of this piece. And then along with all of this the Kavanaugh investigation with the FBI, if we can call it that, was drawing to a close, which is where every eye in the US was unduly focused, with the final vote coming today, and the Congress just passed the largest military budget in US history, probably in world history.

It would appear that the only alternative to war with Iran was the JCPOA, to hear the mainstream media tell it. But, the Iranians don’t want war with the US. Why would they? Washington claims that the sanctions are aimed at helping the Iranian people to get their minds right, do the right thing and overthrow their government again. They claim to have great empathy for the Iranian people. The Europeans, instead – particularly the UK, France, Germany and Russia, along with China – have sought to help keep Tehran bound to the strict terms of the JCPOA, which Iran has been doing anyway, with the olive branch held out to the US if they happen to decide to re-join the JCPOA. The Europeans are so serious about this that they now are starting to set up an alternative payment system to bypass the US dollar and the SWIFT system before November. No more dollars for Iran. Instead, Iran can start trading in other currencies without fear of being choked off by the US. Iran will survive the US sanctions. This also happened while Saturn was opposite the US Venus. So, Washington has seen some big snubs in the past days.

So, why can’t we be friends – with Iran? ‘We’ being the United States in particular and the West in general? Let’s see…well, there was that little crisis in 1979 involving a revolution where some Iranian university students in Tehran took 52 American embassy officials hostage and held them in a diplomatic standoff for 444 days. Kids, you know? But, the hostages were all safely returned. I put it down to youthful enthusiasm. But imagine thinking the US consulate in Tehran was a ‘den of spies’, where the Americans were plotting to overthrow the revolution! And then, the Iranians had the temerity to throw the Western corporate interests out of their country. The nerve…Yes. I suppose I can see why we shouldn’t be friends with the Iranians, especially when they are shouting “Death to America!” all the time. They sure were an ungrateful lot after all we had done for them. Their King and Supreme Ruler – the Shah, was it? – was so upset by it all that he got cancer and had to leave the country. The Egyptians finally took him in, though. It was the communists, you know, and I bet the Russians were behind it! They’re behind all this sort of stuff. You can’t trust the Russians…or the Iranians, or the North Koreans. Heck, who can you trust these days!?

But wait, you say that the Shah played with puppets – oh, was a puppet – and that we actually overthrew the duly elected Iranian government back in the 1950s and installed him as their leader instead? And he was an autocrat!? But we don’t support dictators. We’re the good guys! What about all those pictures I saw of happy Iranians enjoying the good life from the ‘60s and leading up to the revolution…those are all fake? Not fake? How can you tell what is fake or not these days? It sure was a good job of photo-shopping. Kudos to the photo shop. And so many…Oh OK, so most of the people in Iran were dirt poor, oppressed and such by this benevolent king, but who gave them all such good security. Go figure. I suppose I can see why the Iranians are shouting “Death to America!” Oh, they aren’t so much today? Something about a regime in Washington that ignores international law instead. Well, you can’t just go around breaking the law. People get a little peeved by all that sort of carry-on. And justice can be a real bite! It sounds like this ‘Treaty of Amity’ (wasn’t that a horror film?) was a façade, a fake, a put-on, con job…whatever you want to call it. Well, it’s probably a good thing we tore it up, seeing it was just a piece of paper. It sounds like we never did really get along with Iranians. They’re Muslim. I guess that’s another reason they don’t like us. Their choice. But you can’t just go taking people hostage and overthrowing friendly governments just because you don’t like them.

OK, satire in the last two paragraphs aside, we actually did have a Treaty of Amity with Iran. That treaty came into effect at midnight on 16 Jun 1957. The chart is below (bigger), but first a bit of history and perspective. The treaty was drafted after the 1953 CIA-inspired coup which overthrew the Mosaddegh government, who had nationalized Iran’s oil industry. After the coup, the Shah was installed, or we should say re-installed, in 1953. He had been ousted by Mosaddegh and wasn’t much of a leader, preferring to spend his time in nightclubs at the time. He had to be cajoled to go back to Iran by his sister and take up the reins of leadership. As such, he was the perfect choice for Washington and the British, as he was easily plied with money and praise, happily keeping the Western oil interests intact in the nation, even though his rule was brutal. After the dust had settled from the 1953 coup,  the Americans and Iranians immediately set about making this treaty, which was duly submitted to the UN on 20 Dec 1957. The document is essentially a business contract, if you read through it, which is the main interest the West had in Iran at the time. At the end of the document it stipulates that a notice of one year shall be given for either party that wants to walk away from it. The question then arises, if there has been so much animosity between Iran and the US in the past 39 years, especially, as Pompeo has stated, why have both parties left it in place for so long? It perhaps goes to point that neither party really placed much stock in it, until now.

As to the chart for the treaty itself, it pretty much describes what it was about. The Sun was conjunct the IC of the chart at Tehran, indicating the focus on resources (4^th house). The Sun is sextile Pluto (underground resources) and trine to Neptune (oil). The latter is reinforced by the Pisces ascendant, ruled by Neptune, and Neptune is conjunct the 8^th house cusp, which is connected with international banking and income from partnerships. Jupiter, ruling the 10^th house, is conjunct the Vertex and the Descendant and square to the Sun. Mercury (commerce) rules the 4^th house, is in the 3^rd (also commerce) and is opposed by Saturn from the 9^th house, indicating the foreign control of the resources, and overseas (9^th house) at that. There is a partile opposition between the Moon and Uranus across the 5^th/ 11^th house axis, with the Moon in the 11^th (friendship) and the Moon ruling the 5^th house (ambassadors and executive personnel).

But for a supposed ‘treaty of friendship’, there is not much emphasis on such, except for the Moon, and it is not well aspected. In fact, the ruler of the 11^th house is Saturn – not exactly what one would call a warm emphasis – and it is trine to Uranus, again not warm, which rules the 12^th house, indicating interests behind the scenes. So as usual, the astrology tells the tale of the agreement rather than the title of the document. There is quite a bit more there, but this should suffice to show the true intent of our soon-to-be defunct Treaty of Amity.

The Iranians have played a smart hand in taking this matter to the ICJ at this point in time. With the US walking out of the JCPOA, re-imposing sanctions with more to come next month, they have in fact declared war on the Iranian government, which the Iranian people freely chose and still support, by the way. It is an economic war at present, but the desired end by Washington is just the same, and the same as it was in 1953 – regime change. The difference this time is that the rest of the world disagrees with Trump and Co., except for other Arab states and Israel. By taking this to the ICJ, the Iranians have highlighted yet again the approach of Washington on the world stage. But more than that, they knew exactly how the Americans would respond, by ignoring the judgement of the Court and by tearing up the treaty, showing them to be acting in bad faith.

That being said, the Iranians are not without fault with regard to the treaty. The revolution, taking of hostages, throwing out corporate interests and so on, was a clear abrogation of the treaty, too. But then, looking at the history of the relations between the West and Iran over the past 100 years, one might rightly say that such a treaty was a sham to start with. It never favored the Iranian people and was always ‘just about business’, so it was never really about friendship between peoples. As stated before, it was a business agreement. And although Pompeo is correct to say that after 39 years it should be torn up, it is more correct to say that it should never have drawn up in the first place, or at least should have been called what it really was. Sixty-five years after the fact, there is finally stark clarity about the relations between the US and Iran over all that time, and it points to the ever-widening divide between Washington and Tehran and the ever-strengthening move toward Iran’s integration into a wider Eurasian union, which is where it belongs anyway, along with a growing friendship with Western Europe as a result of Washington’s missteps.

However, there is one more piece to the puzzle, and it points to Washington’s diminishing esteem among the world community. We are not talking about the American people, but about regimes. The present regime in Washington has been quite strident about the ICC (International Criminal Court) recently. In truth, the Trump administration has just come right out and directly stated a sentiment that has been a long-held one in Washington – that the US will not be bound by any international body, that might makes right, or in this case, the “righteous might” of the American people, as John Bolton recently stated it. This is stating that the US is above the law, or that they make their own laws. It was a clear statement of the attitude of American exceptionalism. If there was any doubt in the minds of the world community as to whether the US would stick by its commitments, the matter has been made very clear this year. It is also a clear message to the UN, that they do not matter when it comes to the US, and that they have no teeth to enforce anything on the US. Bolton has stated that the Trump administration will be re-examining all such treaties now. Be prepared to see the US walk away from other such agreements before all is said and done. I know of many Americans who cheer the actions of Trump and his staff, but it is such that leads down a quick path to isolation and on which Washington’s relations with its partners can come undone very quickly and in unexpected ways, thus causing blow-back on the American people.

Featured pic: Gus Leonisky at 23 May 2018

Video clip from the original music video “Why Can’t We Be Friends”, by War, available on YouTube