British Diplomatic Oil Crisis: Contemporary Anglo-Saxon Geopolitical Rivalries in the Persian Gulf: Drawing a Lesson? Or Sir Anthony Eden‘s Delusion of Grandeur.
Without
consultation with the Americans, Britain independently proceeded.
The United Kingdom, in an Anglo-Franco-Israeli plan, launched an attack on
Egypt.
The Suez
operation by Britain, France and Israel did not succeed. The United
States, in the aftermath of the attack, played a leading role in the United
Nations in condemning Britain’s action and demanded British withdrawal from
Egyptian soil.
The British
Prime Minister should have learned from the Iranian crisis that
Great Britain could not act militarily without the American concurrence. The
Suez crisis only underlined that Britain could not act without the
co-operation of the Americans. Whereas the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company’s
crisis showed the limited range of action Britain could take. It indicated
that the United Kingdom could not act militarily in the Middle East without
consultation with the Americans.
The Suez
affair of 1956 has always been the focus of attention. The Anglo-
Iranian Oil Company’s crisis is as significant as Suez or even more so with
regard to Britain’s position in the Middle East. All possible options to
complete events in Iran were explored, and in the end Britain had to go into
alliance with the United States. The American ‘market’ took the lead. The
Iranian crisis was a kind of forerunner to Suez, because, firstly, it showed
that military action was exceedingly risky. Secondly, that the American
dimension was important, and thirdly, that Britain was in the cruel dilemma
of having to protect her vital interests with one hand tied behind her back.
Iran showed
that, when all was said and done, diplomacy rather than force
was the only option. But diplomacy is a means of trying to control an
environment which is probably largely beyond one’s control. Britain’s best
option – to engineer a change of government, could only be achieved
through American meditation
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