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

between
Governments, whoever the negotiations might be conducted
by.36

The
Vice-President of the International Bank expressed hope that by
January 1952 he would be in position to work out some proposals. The
proposals were to provide inter alia, from the International
Bank, ‘to have complete freedom to appoint a management with full
authority over the production and refining side of the industry.’
37 The role of the management, whose head
was expected to be of ‘neutral’ nationality, was to be responsible
for recruiting the operating group to run the industry. The majority
of the foreign operating staff were expected to be from the
Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. Profits were to be split on a 50:50 basis
between these foreigners, supplying the operations and marketing
facilities, which in effect would be primarily the Anglo-Iranian Oil
Company and the Iranian Government.

The
Anglo-Iranian Oil Company would not be prepared to accept any
scheme which gives less than fifty-fifty division of the
profits.38

Such a scheme would appear
to protect the essential interests of His
Majesty’s Government and the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. It may be
more difficult for the Bank to convince the Persians that it also
protects their essential interests. The Shah has apparently placed
his hopes on the Bank’s