Probably not a majority of Americans alive today remember when the shah of Iran was on the throne.

Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was a friend of America in the Middle East but was ousted in 1979 – in a coup a year after his government shot some student demonstrators.

Things have never been the same between the two countries since that time.

A key point came when Iranian radicals seized the American embassy in Tehran and took staff members hostage, seeking to force the return of the deposed shah to face criminal charges there. The shah died later that year of cancer in Egypt where he lived in exile.

The hostage situation was considered one reason that Ronald Reagan defeated incumbent President Jimmy Carter.

Iran released the hostages in January 1981 about the time President Reagan was inaugurated.

Iran Helped Elect Reagan?

The Iranian animosity against the West, particularly America, did not lessen, especially after America intervened in the Iran-Iraq war on the side of Iraq and accidentally shot down a commercial Iranian airliner in 1986.

The then-new Iranian leader, Ayatollah Khomeini considered western influence in the region a corrupting influence on Iran’s Muslim society. (Possibly some women felt that they should be able to drive cars, or something like that, huh?)

Iran’s goal of developing nuclear weapons has been a point of contention between America and Iran since Iran and Russia signed a nuclear contract in 1995, purportedly to complete a nuclear power plant. Iran denied a report at that time it was five years away from producing nuclear weapons.

Despite resolutions by the United Nations and the International Atomic Energy Commission, work on weapons apparently has continued in Iran and the political seesaw has continued.

Now that President Trump has inherited the problem the national media is determined to blame him … for anything it can think of, including allegedly planning a war against Iran over shooting down a U.S. surveillance drone in international waters off the Iranian coast recently.

The U.S. has led western nations in imposing economic sanctions against Iran for its nuclear bomb desires but President Trump has made it clear that he sees other means of controlling the situation short of sending troops into harm’s way.

Those with Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) continue to use their scare tactics about war being imminent.

So that’s where things stand as we understand it.

Harvest, Road Repairs Making Headway Locally

Meanwhile, back on the home front, harvesters got a break in the weather last week and made progress in bringing in the 2019 small grain and canola crops and county and state road crews made progress on repairing flood damaged roads.

The highway department crew repaired the bridge that was washed out on S.H. 74F north of Cashion so that road is open again. The road crews also filled in some low places in the paving between the bridge and Cashion so the drive is much smoother now.

County commissioner road crews are busy daily repairing the county’s 1,700 miles of flood-ravaged roads. This is a trying time for commissioners and their road workers. It is going to take awhile to get around to fixing all the damage that record flooding has created.

Work has been able to resume on the U.S. 81 upgrade south of Kingfisher after three months of lost work days due to rains.

It is inconvenient now but let’s look on the bright side; it is going to be so nice when it is finished.

While driving on Northwest Highway between Okarche and Oklahoma City recently – either for hospital visits or to take or pick up airline passengers (not to shop), we have noticed how much smoother the portions of the highway are where an asphalt overlay has been applied. It is a relief not to have the highway jolting our vehicle as well as our teeth as we drive over it, as we pass over the bumps created by the road’s original contractor – kerthunk, kerthunk, kerthunk.

We have wondered if that road was the original contractor’s first job.