British Diplomatic Oil Crisis: Contemporary Anglo-Saxon Geopolitical Rivalries in the Persian Gulf: Drawing a Lesson? Or Sir Anthony Eden‘s Delusion of Grandeur.
Company)
and ownership and free disposal of the oil produced
(although they were willing to guarantee supplies to previous
customers of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company).
The
attitude of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company and the British
Government was that they were prepared to accept nationalisation as
a matter of negotiation, and not as a diktat, provided that the
efficiency of the oil operation was ensured by the employment of the
Company as managing agents and provided that the Company had an
absolute right to the oil produced, subject to the satisfaction of
Iran’s domestic requirements (which only formed a very small
proportion of the total production).
Το close the gap between
these two different irreconcilable points
of view, the Company sent out a delegation of Directors
on the 11th June to try to
convince the Persian Government of the
consequences of their policy of immediate expropriation of the
Company’s installations in Persia and to offer an alternative that
would give them money for their present needs, acceptance of the
principle of nationalisation and a foundation for partnership in the
future. After meetings at which the Persian delegation proved
completely intransigent, insisting that oil proposals must be in
accordance with the Nationalisation Law, the Company on the 19th
June made an offer which provided for an immediate payment of
£10,000,000 and a sum of
£3,000,000 a month from
July onwards during the period necessary to
reach an agreement. The offer also provided for the vesting of the
Persian assets of the AIOC in the National Iranian Oil Company on
condition that the latter would grant to a new
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