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 SIX

BRITAIN AND THE AFTERMATH

OF THE ANGLO-IRANIAN OIL COMPANY’S CRISIS

As a result of its crucial
strategic position and its huge oil reserves,
which led to the establishment of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, Iran became
a vital British interest. The Anglo-Iranian Oil Company was the most
important British Enterprise abroad, and the major British interest in the
Persian Gulf, as Chapter One showed. The Anglo-Iranian Oil Company was one
of the world’s major oil companies and the ‘jewel’ in the crown of the
British petroleum industry. Until the middle of the twentieth century the
Persian Gulf had a vital role for Britain’s energy supply and economic
interest.

In 1951 the
Iranian Government nationalised the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company.
The nationalisation took place when the Labour Government of 1945- 51 was
still in office, which Chapters Two and Three showed. Chapter Four examined
the Conservative Party’s policy towards the nationalisation of the
Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, after its taking of office in 1951. This was
followed in Chapter Five by a study of how the nationalisation crisis was
ultimately ended in 1953, under the Conservative administration, with the
intervention of the United States, and the aftermath of the crisis. The
United States’ participation in the new oil consortium in 1954 was discussed
in the previous chapter.

The
nationalisation of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, eventually, led to the
United States acquiring a substantial share in Iranian oil in what used to
be called the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, the main British interest in the
Persian Gulf. America clearly moved into the British sphere of influence,
the Persian Gulf.

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