British Diplomatic Oil Crisis: Contemporary Anglo-Saxon Geopolitical Rivalries in the Persian Gulf: Drawing a Lesson? Or Sir Anthony Eden‘s Delusion of Grandeur.
Government was
in favour of negotiations, as will be shown in Chapter Three.
Taking military action would be detrimental to the prospect of receiving
financial aid from the United States. Financial considerations prevailed.
Settling the crisis by negotiations became the preferred option. The British
Government had no hope of reaching a settlement with the Iranian Government.
Therefore it put the case for the nationalisation of the Anglo-Iranian Oil
Company to the International Court of Justice. The British Government also
submitted the oil dispute to the Security Council of the United Nations. The
loss of Iranian oil was forcing the United Kingdom to spend 25 per cent of
her dollar earnings on oil supplies. The British Government sought the
International Bank’s help, and welcomed its offer of mediation in the Anglo
Iranian Oil Company’s crisis. The Conservative Government now in power in
1951 was concerned about bringing down the Iranian Government in order to
protect the British interest in Iran, which was the oil facility. On the
other hand, settling the dispute between Britain and Iran through
negotiations was the United States’ policy, and it became involved as a
mediator in the crisis.
The United States’ view was
that a British military attack or an economic
collapse in
Iran would lead to a communist takeover in the country. This
policy led to Iran receiving economic aid from the United States. The
British Government was trying by economic sanction to bring down the Iranian
Government, while the United States was giving economic aid to Iran. Both
mediations by the United States and the International Bank, however,
collapsed. The British Government was not unhappy about it, hoping that it
would weaken the Iranian Government’s position. The United Kingdom was happy
to go along with the idea of negotiations nevertheless, in order to prevent
the United States Government from offering financial help to Iran, which
Chapter Four will demonstrate. In the meanwhile, in the United States a new
administration came in to office, which was more amenable to the British
view.
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