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

tons of
railway track equipment and 3,000 tons of sugar, were
requisitioned.23

The
British Government, believing that only the Shah could replace
Dr. Musaddiq with someone more reasonable, instructed the British
Ambassador in Teheran to have an audience with the Shah as soon as
possible. The Ambassador had instructions to emphasise to the Shah
that nothing could be achieved as long as Musaddiq’s government was
in office. The Shah was urged to take steps to replace the
government of Dr. Musaddiq with a government better fitted to
safeguard Iran’s real interests.

Later on President Truman’s
envoy, Harriman, received a note from
Dr. Musaddiq. On 12th September Harriman was sent new proposals by
Musaddiq, for the settlement of the oil dispute. The proposals
included a repetition of the ultimatum in regard to the British
staff, that their residence permits in Iran would be cancelled. The
American representative refused to discuss Musaddiq’s proposals with
the British Government and in a firm reply, wrote to Musaddiq that

so-called proposals were in
some respects a retrogression from the
attitude which Dr. Musaddiq had previously taken up, and that the
issue of the ‘ultimatum’ in regard to the British staff could only
aggravate the situation.24

Later,
in a discussion with the British Ambassador to Teheran, the
Shah urged Sir Francis Shepherd to have further talks with Musaddiq.
This was because the Shah was more afraid of making a change of
government than actually having Musaddiq in office. The British
Ambassador, however, declined the Shah’s