Two Kings of Kings: Iran-Ethiopia Relations Under Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and Haile Selassie

Abstract

Iran’s engagement with the African continent increased significantly throughout the 1960s and into the 1970s, driven by economic, political and strategic interests. The first country Iran reached out to in Sub-Saharan Africa was Haile Selassie’s Ethiopia, and the emperor remained the shah’s closest ally on the continent until his downfall in 1974. This relationship was established in 1960, when Haile Selassie’s Solomonic kingdom faced pressures from African decolonisation movements, and when the shah feared the growth of radical regimes sponsored by the Soviets across the Middle East. Addressing a gap in the literature on late Pahlavi foreign policy and drawing on a range of primary source materials, including Dutch and US diplomatic records, memoirs and newspapers, this article evaluates the political relationship between Iran and Ethiopia under the shah and Haile Selassie. It examines what each side gained from the relationship, particularly in the context of regional political developments, and the role monarchism played in drawing the two countries together. The paper investigates the shah’s developing interest in Africa from the 1960s onwards and the position of Ethiopia, not only as a gateway to the rest of the continent but also an area of strategic importance to the shah.