The Shah sent 15,000 Iranians to save Oman's sultan | HE WAS NEVER THEIR PUPPET — Part 5

History Onion · Part 5 · 2:58

Tehran, June 1972. An envoy from Sultan Qaboos of Oman arrives with a letter asking for troops. Oman is the Gulf's other shore — its northern tip forms the southern side of the Strait of Hormuz, through which Iran's oil leaves — and in its southern province, Dhofar, a Marxist front armed by South Yemen held the mountains, with the liberation of the whole Gulf in its name. Britain had a few hundred men in Oman and was leaving the region; no Arab army came. The Shah said yes. He decided it himself, the historian James Goode writes, "for reasons wholly related to Iran's regional security." Part 5 follows the war and its price. Special forces in 1972, a brigade in 1973, four thousand men at a time by 1974 with an air bridge from Iran — fifteen thousand Iranians rotated through Dhofar. Arab governments protested a Persian army on Arab soil; the Shah persisted, and in July 1974 Iran and Oman drew their seabed border down the Strait together. The Iranians built the Damavand Line, took the rebels' capital Rakhyut in January 1975, fought the last offensive that autumn, and saw Qaboos declare the war won that December. More than seven hundred Iranians gave their lives to save Oman, and some fourteen hundred more were wounded. At the end of 1975, with oil income falling, the Shah talked of cutting his own navy's plans but not of leaving Oman: his commitment to the sultan, he said, was firm. Qaboos pardoned the rebels and rebuilt Dhofar; it never rose again, and the Strait's other shore never became a Marxist state. Sources: • "without any prior consultation… for reasons wholly related to Iran's regional security… He persisted… for which Iran earned the lasting gratitude of the sultan" — James F. Goode, "Assisting Our Brothers, Defending Ourselves: The Iranian Intervention in Oman, 1972–75," Iranian Studies (2014): https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/iranian-studies/article/abs/assisting-our-brothers-defending-ourselves-the-iranian-intervention-in-oman-197275/CFAD64B93A0AD5CB271F6E619FE29B60 • The Iranian force in Dhofar (special forces 1972, the Damavand brigade 1973, 15,000 rotated) — "All the Shah's Men," Defence-in-Depth, King's College London (2016): https://defenceindepth.co/2016/06/06/all-the-shahs-men-the-imperial-iranian-brigade-group-in-the-dhofar-war/ • The air bridge, the Damavand Line, the final offensive and the amnesty policy — "Securing Oman for Development," Military Strategy Magazine: https://www.militarystrategymagazine.com/article/securing-oman-for-development-sultan-qaboos-confronts-his-enemies-1970-1976/