Iranian Parties and the Northern Iran Oil problem, Between Iran and Soviet Union (1941 – 1946)

Abstract

In the forties of the twentieth century, Iran went through a sensitive period of internal and international political conflict. In 1941, it was subjected to a double military campaign and was occupied by the British army and Soviet forces. This led to a change in Iran’s internal politics. As a result, many political parties and organizations emerged, with different intellectual trends. Under this circumstance, when Iran was under the pressures of the alliance countries and their increasing demands, the superpowers had ambitions in the oil of northern Iran. Therefore, it was pressuring the Iranian government in order to obtain the privilege of extracting and exporting oil from those areas.

      The Allies' greed for northern Iran's oil arose with the occupation of that country, but it has increased since 1944 when a number of British and American oil companies visited Iran. It was followed by Soviet attempts for the same purpose. This was reflected in the attitudes of the Iranian parties; The left-wing parties were calling for giving the northern oil concession to the Soviet Union. While the right-wing parties rejected this step because they support Western countries (Britain and America). This led to political instability in Iran, especially for the governments, therefore a number of governments were formed during the years (1941-1946), but they soon fell as a result of the competition between the superpowers on the one hand and the struggle of the Iranian parties on the other.

      Finally, this conflict was resolved by the Iranian-Soviet agreement in 1946, which was supported by the Iranian leftist parties, especially the Tudeh party with a broad public base. But the aforementioned agreement did not obtain the approval of the Iranian parliament, and therefore the Soviets did not obtain their desire for Iranian oil. Despite this, they withdrew their support for the Republics of Azerbaijan and Kurdistan, which led to their fall by Iranian forces in the same year.