British Diplomatic Oil Crisis: Contemporary Anglo-Saxon Geopolitical Rivalries in the Persian Gulf: Drawing a Lesson? Or Sir Anthony Eden‘s Delusion of Grandeur.
operating
staff to come from neutral countries. This was not acceptable to
the British Government. The International Bank’s mediation failed.
The Truman
administration provided economic aid to Iran, believing that an
economic collapse in Iran would lead to a communist takeover. This annoyed
the Churchill administration, by now in power, because the United Kingdom
Government was concerned about overthrowing the Musaddiq regime, and
protecting British interests in Iran, which meant the oil facilities in
Abadan. As the evidence from the Public Record Office showed in Chapter
Four, Sir Anthony Eden, the British Foreign Secretary, was not unhappy that
the mediation collapsed, hoping that it would weaken Dr. Musaddiq’s
position. Besides the economic considerations which have been touched on,
the British Foreign Secretary, Sir Anthony Eden, believed that if the United
Kingdom refused to talk, the United States Government would provide economic
aid to the government of Dr. Musaddiq in order to prevent an economic
collapse in Iran which would lead, in America’s opinion, to a communist
takeover of the country. Ironically, the United States was pressing the
British Government to negotiate, something which the British Government was
willingly doing anyway in order to prevent the United States Government from
providing financial assistance to the government of Dr. Musaddiq.
Meanwhile,
there was a considerable degree of discontent beginning to show
inside Iran. The economic sanctions by Britain and the oil blockade began to
have an effect on the Iranian economy. Politicians, land owners, merchants,
the army and the Shah became anxious about the economic problems. The Civil
Service and the Islamic leaders became increasingly concerned about the
economic situation. The Iranian Communist Party, the Tudeh Party, backed the
government of Dr. Musaddiq and called for a People’s Democratic Republic. At
the same time the Soviet Union announced that they would provide aid to
Iran. The backing of the Tudeh Party to the government of Dr. Musaddiq and
the fear
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