British Diplomatic Oil Crisis: Contemporary Anglo-Saxon Geopolitical Rivalries in the Persian Gulf: Drawing a Lesson? Or Sir Anthony Eden‘s Delusion of Grandeur.

discovery
of Persian oil deposits became a major issue in British
foreign policy which lasted more than half the twentieth century.

On May 28th 1901, William
Knox D’Arcy, an Englishman who as a boy
had emigrated to Australia with his father, made a fortune there and
returned to Britain, entered into agreement with the Persian
Government to exploit Persian oil. In 1909 the Anglo-Persian Oil
Company (APOC) was formed, having since 1914 the British Government
as a major shareholder, with 55% of the shares, and 52% of the
voting rights. The Anglo-Persian Oil Company was the most important
British enterprise abroad, and the major British interest in the
Persian Gulf.

It was Churchill who played
a major role in conversion of the Royal
Navy from coal to oil. Moreover Churchill had a crucial part in the
British Government’s buying of a majority of shares in the Anglo
Persian Company.

By far politically the most
significant country of the Persian Gulf
zone was Iran. 11 She was the most populous
state in the region and a constitutional monarchy. Rich in natural
resources, over twice the size of France, and the second oldest
continuous civilisation in the world, with a long imperial past;
Iran became the ‘jewel’ in the crown of the British petroleum
industry.

During the Second World War
the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company played an
important role. After Japan attacked the USA on 7th December 1941
and went on to overrun most of southeast Asia, the Anglo-Iranian Oil
Company became the major source of petroleum products to sustain the
Allied war effort in India and the Pacific. In 1945, oil production
in Iran was 19.2 million tons, well above the pre-war peak of 10.2
million tons.12