British Diplomatic Oil Crisis: Contemporary Anglo-Saxon Geopolitical Rivalries in the Persian Gulf: Drawing a Lesson? Or Sir Anthony Eden‘s Delusion of Grandeur.
CHAPTER FIVE
1954: THE CONSERVATIVE
GOVERNMENT AND THE ENDING OF THE CRISIS
The previous chapter was
concerned with the Conservative Government’s policy
in its coming to office in 1951, towards the nationalisation of the Anglo-
Iranian Oil Company by the Iranian Government. The Anglo-Iranian Oil Company
was the most important British enterprise abroad, and the major British
interest in the Persian Gulf. In this chapter attempts will be made to
explain how the Conservative Government managed to bring the nationalisation
crisis to an end.
The Handling of the Crisis
Worried about the spread of the
Soviet influence the area, or a Communist
coup in Iran, the United States pressed Britain to make concessions to
settle in States the oil dispute with Iran. ‘The most desirable solution
would be for AIOC and the Government of Iran to negotiate a settlement
between themselves’, was the American view.1 In reply the British Government emphasised that
concessions would encourage seizure of Western investment elsewhere in
the world. The replacement of Truman, in January 1953, by ‘the new
administration led by Eisenhower and Dulles proved more amenable to
British arguments,’ 2 in the Iranian crisis. As
was said in the previous chapter, on 20th June 1953, President
Eisenhower formally took Britain’s side by writing to the Iranian Prime
-
Department of State:
Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the, (Washington
DC Annual), 1952-54, Vol. IX, p.762, the Near and Middle East,
Agreed Minutes of the Fourth Session of the United States- French
talks on Middle East oil, Secret, December 21st 1953. -
A.P. DOBSON,
The Politics of the Anglo-America Economic Special,
(Brighton: Wheatsheaf Books, 1988), p.143.Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177
