U.S. pressure and promises of military and economic aid were key in the negotiations leading to the agreement, but the United States could not initially participate.

[5] Modeled after the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), METO committed the nations to mutual cooperation and protection, as well as non-intervention in each other's affairs.

The new government was led by military officer Abd al-Karim Qasim who withdrew Iraq from the Baghdad Pact, opened diplomatic relations with Soviet Union and adopted a non-aligned stance.

Whatever containment value the pact might have had was lost when the Soviets 'leap-frogged' the member states, establishing close military and political relationships with governments in Egypt, Syria, Iraq, South Yemen, Somalia, and Libya.

Anti-Western interests engaged in a more activist foreign policy regionally by participating overtly in Middle Eastern conflicts in one form or another and one of the original arguments in favor of the increasingly passive alliance, that it'd serve as a valuable counterweight to the influence of Nasser's Soviet-friendly Arab nationalism, was discredited and weakened.

With the withdrawal of Iran, the Secretary-General of CENTO, Turkish diplomat Kamuran Gurun, announced on March 16, 1979, that he would call a meeting of the pact's council in order to formally dissolve the organization.

Secretaries general were:[15][16] CENTO sponsored a railway line, some of which was completed, to enable a rail connection between London and Tehran via Van.

A section from Lake Van in Turkey to Sharafkhaneh in Iran was completed and funded in large part by CENTO (mainly the UK).

[17][18] Like its counterparts NATO and SEATO, CENTO sponsored a number of cultural and scientific research institutions: The institutions supported a wide range of non-military activities, with a particular focus on agriculture and development, In 1960, for example, CENTO had funded 37 projects covering agriculture, education, health, economic development and transportation.