U.S.-Iranain power relations, politics and conflicts in the early 1970s

Andrew Scott Cooper, author of a the book The Oil Kings: How the U.S., Iran and Saudi Arabia Changed the Balance of Power in the Middle East, was interviewed on the excellent Conversations With History series.

The hour-long interviewed covers a range of interesting topics and sheds light on some previously unknown aspects of the U.S.-Iranian political alliance at the time.

• just how essential the Shah (personally) and Iran were to U.S. foreign policy goals in the Middle East and Asia from the late 1960s through the 1970s
• how Nixon personally gave the green light for Iran to raise it's oil prices
• how the OPEC oil embargo and rising price of oil shifted the balance of power in the Shah's favour
• the Saudi role in worsening Iran's economy and weakening the Shah's position
• the personal relationships between the Shah, Nixon, Kissinger and surrounding figures