Iran and the Tehran Conference

Abstract

FROM 1920 the Iranian Government had been painfully evolving means for the unification and modernization of the country, which brought a multitude of complicated problems in it-s wake. The outbreak of war found Iran's national standing quite independent of the favours of the Great Powers, but her new factories, industrial life and economic structure wholly depended on the tools, machinery and shipping space granted her by these Powers. Nevertheless, during the first eighteen months of the war, the scene of fighting was far from the frontiers of Iran, and a course of neutrality was pursued by the Government. This neutrality, which was strictly adhered to by Iran to the best of her ability, was respected by the belligerents during the first two years of the war. After the declaration of war by Germany on the Soviet Union on June 22nd, 1941, however, the Great Power neighbours of Iran, forming an Alliance, regarded the situation in Iran as altogether changed. (1) They considered that Iran formed the only link in the chain that at that time could connect Great Britain and the Allies with the Soviet Union; (2) the speedy penetration of the German Army into Soviet territory and Caucasia transformed Iran into a potential rear for the Soviet armed forces; (3) the strategic position of Iran in the Middle and Near East was enhanced, as it formed the secure flank and rear of the British forces in the East, as well as the road to India; (4) the oil wells in the Persian Gulf regions became of vital importance to the British. Hence, on August 26th, 1941, British and Soviet armed forces entered Iran, and in the light of prevailing circumstances, Iran's neutrality had to be abandoned, and with His Majesty Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi on the throne, a new democratic Government was formed by the late Mohammed Ali Foroughi, the veteran statesman and philosopher. Since then Tehran, the capital of Iran, has seen great events. On January 29th, 1942, the Tripartite Treaty of Alliance between Iran, Great Britain and the Soviet Union was signed at Tehran, and the foreign policy of Iran changed to collaboration with the Allies. On September 9th, 1943, Tehran was the scene of a declaration of war by the Iranian Government on Nazi Germany, which thus aligned the country with the Allies. These events must be considered of the utmost importance in the political history of Iran, as they will inevitably have a great influence on her future for generations to come.