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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Iran
Index
At the outbreak of World War II, Iran declared its neutrality,
but the country was soon invaded by both Britain and the Soviet
Union. Britain had been annoyed when Iran refused Allied demands
that it expel all German nationals from the country. When Hitler
invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, the Allies urgently needed to
transport war matériel across Iran to the Soviet Union, an
operation that would have violated Iranian neutrality. As a result,
Britain and the Soviet Union simultaneously invaded Iran on August
26, 1941, the Soviets from the northwest and the British across the
Iraqi frontier from the west and at the head of the Persian Gulf in
the south. Resistance quickly collapsed. Reza Shah knew the Allies
would not permit him to remain in power, so he abdicated on
September 16 in favor of his son, who ascended the throne as
Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi. Reza Shah and several members of his
family were taken by the British first to Mauritius and then to
Johannesburg, South Africa, where Reza Shah died in July 1944.
The occupation of Iran proved of vital importance to the Allied
cause and brought Iran closer to the Western powers. Britain, the
Soviet Union, and the United States together managed to move over
5 million tons of munitions and other war matériel across Iran to
the Soviet Union. In addition, in January 1942 Iran signed a
tripartite treaty of alliance with Britain and the Soviet Union
under which Iran agreed to extend nonmilitary assistance to the war
effort. The two Allied powers, in turn, agreed to respect Iran's
independence and territorial integrity and to withdraw their troops
from Iran within six months of the end of hostilities. In September
1943, Iran declared war on Germany, thus qualifying for membership
in the United Nations (UN). In November at the Tehran Conference,
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill,
and Prime Minister Josef Stalin reaffirmed a commitment to Iran's
independence and territorial integrity and a willingness to extend
economic assistance to Iran.
The effects of the war, however, were very disruptive for Iran.
Food and other essential items were scarce. Severe inflation
imposed great hardship on the lower and middle classes, while
fortunes were made by individuals dealing in scarce items. The
presence of foreign troops accelerated social change and also fed
xenophobic and nationalist sentiments. An influx of rural migrants
into the cities added to political unrest. The Majlis, dominated by
the propertied interests, did little to ameliorate these
conditions. With the political controls of the Reza Shah period
removed, meanwhile, party and press activity revived. The communist
Tudeh Party was especially active in organizing industrial workers.
Like many other political parties of the left and center, it called
for economic and social reform.
Eventually, collusion between the Tudeh and the Soviet Union
brought further disintegration to Iran. In September 1944, while
American companies were negotiating for oil concessions in Iran,
the Soviets requested an oil concession in the five northern
provinces. In December, however, the Majlis passed a law forbidding
the government to discuss oil concessions before the end of the
war. This led to fierce Soviet propaganda attacks on the government
and agitation by the Tudeh in favor of a Soviet oil concession. In
December 1945, the Azarbaijan Democratic Party, which had close
links with the Tudeh and was led by Jafar Pishevari, announced the
establishment of an autonomous republic. In a similar move,
activists in neighboring Kordestan established the Kurdish Republic
of Mahabad. Both autonomous republics enjoyed the support of the
Soviets, and Soviet troops remaining in Khorasan, Gorgan,
Mazandaran, and Gilan. Other Soviet troops prevented government
forces from entering Azarbaijan and Kordestan. Soviet pressure on
Iran continued as British and American troops evacuated in keeping
with their treaty undertakings. Soviet troops remained in the
country. Prime Minister Ahmad Qavam had to persuade Stalin to
withdraw his troops by agreeing to submit a Soviet oil concession
to the Majlis and to negotiate a peaceful settlement to the
Azarbaijan crisis with the Pishevari government. In April the
government signed an oil agreement with the Soviet Union; in May,
partly as a result of United States, British, and UN pressure,
Soviet troops withdrew from Iranian territory. Qavam took three
Tudeh members into his cabinet. Qavam was able to reclaim his
concessions to the Soviet Union, however. A tribal revolt in the
south, partly to protest communist influence, provided an
opportunity to dismiss the Tudeh cabinet officers. In December,
ostensibly in preparation for new Majlis elections, he sent the
Iranian army into Azarbaijan. Without Soviet backing, the Pishevari
government collapsed, and Pishevari himself fled to the Soviet
Union. A similar fate befell the Kurdish Republic of Mahabad. In
the new Majlis, a strong bloc of deputies, organized in the
National Front and led by Mohammad Mossadeq, helped defeat the
Soviet oil concession agreement by 102 votes to 2. The Majlis also
passed a bill forbidding any further foreign oil concessions and
requiring the government to exploit oil resources directly.
Soviet influence diminished further in 1947, when Iran and the
United States signed an agreement providing for military aid and
for a United States military advisory mission to help train the
Iranian army. In February 1949, the Tudeh was blamed for an
abortive attempt on the shah's life, and its leaders fled abroad or
were arrested. The party was banned.
Data as of December 1987
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