Son of SandorJuly 10, 1950 #ColdWar TIME At what soft spot would the probing finger of Communist aggression aim its next jab? Western observers have long feared that one of the likeliest targets would be Russia’s neighbor, Iran, a backward land perched precariously on the USSR’s Middle-Eastern doorstep. Iran has been wallowing in an economic and political swamp for decades. https://time.com/archive/6607811/iran-next-target/
On Aug 19, 2013, the CIA publicly admitted for the first time its involvement in the 1953 coup against Iran's elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh. The 1953 coup was later invoked by students and the political class in Iran as a justification for overthrowing the shah. https://www.npr.org/2019/01/31/690363402/how-the-cia-overthrew-irans-democracy-in-four-days
Jan 15, 1951 TIME What dismayed the British was that they had been closely bargaining for months with the Iranian government to accept much lower royalties from the Anglo-Iranian Oil Co. The British government, which controls Anglo-Iranian, feared that the Iranians, who now get considerably less than half of Anglo-Iranian’s profits, would never settle for less than a 50-50 split. In addition, Anglo-Iranian and the five other owners of the Iraq Petroleum Co. had just about completed long negotiations with Iraq on a new contract.
https://time.com/archive/6616580/foreign-trade-half-half/
https://time.com/archive/6616580/foreign-trade-half-half/
Jan 29, 1951 NYT For nearly two generations Iran has been under foreign influence of one sort or another: the Russians coming down from the north, both in Czarist and in Soviet days, and in these latter days offering their own species of land reform as bait; the British and Americans, interested in oil and also in military security. But the young Shah works under difficulties and against great odds. Russia waits her chance and the reactionaries of the old order wait theirs https://www.nytimes.com/1951/01/30/archives/from-troubled-iran.html
Mar 2, 1951 NYT Aggression from within in the form of a possible Communist uprising in #Iran has Britain worried. The possibility has been discussed privately for some time. So has the question of what the West should do if there is no direct evidence of Russian intervention.
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/03/02/archives/britain-worried-over-iran-warns-soviet-on-aggression-in-the-guise.html
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/03/02/archives/britain-worried-over-iran-warns-soviet-on-aggression-in-the-guise.html
Mar 9, 1951 NYT An Iranian Parliamentary committee voted unanimously for nationalization of the oil industry tonight, a few hours after the funeral of Premier Gen. Ali Razmara, who was assassinated yesterday because he had opposed the plan.
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/03/09/archives/nationalizing-of-oil-in-iran-asked-slain-premier-plans-foe-buried.html
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/03/09/archives/nationalizing-of-oil-in-iran-asked-slain-premier-plans-foe-buried.html
Mar 10, 1951 NYT Assassination in Iran. The murderer was a member of the Crusaders of Islam, a fanatical Moslem organization which had demanded the end of oil concessions. In prison later the assassin shouted: “Long live Islam, death to the oil company." The question is whether the new Premier will be strong enough to maintain Iran's delicate international position and progress toward solution of her internal problems.
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/03/11/archives/assassination-in-iran.html
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/03/11/archives/assassination-in-iran.html
Mar 10, 1951 NYT When the surface of the smoldering volcano is eggshell thin, as it is in Iran, a shot fired in a mosque may start an eruption that can spread in many directions. The gun that killed Razmara was aimed against “foreigners,” particularly the British, because of their control of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, which the ultra-nationalists want nationalized.
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/03/10/archives/abroad-the-land-where-anything-can-happen-nationalizing-oil-caught.html
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/03/10/archives/abroad-the-land-where-anything-can-happen-nationalizing-oil-caught.html
Mar 15, 1951 NYT A warning against any attempt to cancel the British oil concession in southern Iran and nationalize the oil industry was sent to Teheran today by the British Government. The company's present agreement with Iran is valid until 1993 and cannot be legally terminated by unilateral action of the Iranian Government. The Iranian oil concession was first granted to British interests in 1901. It was revised and extended in 1933.
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/03/15/archives/british-warn-iran-on-taking-over-oil-protest-move-to-nationalize.html
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/03/15/archives/british-warn-iran-on-taking-over-oil-protest-move-to-nationalize.html
Mar 16, 1951 NYT By unanimous vote, the Majlis, or lower house of Iran's Parliament, decided tentatively today to nationalize the oil industry, which would be a prize of any war between the West and Russia. Britain's fifty-year control of the Iranian oil fields was repudiated.
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/03/16/archives/irans-house-votes-to-nationalise-oil-action-follows-assassination.html
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/03/16/archives/irans-house-votes-to-nationalise-oil-action-follows-assassination.html
Mar 16, 1951 NYT Stanley Abramovitch, director of emigration and relief programs for the Joint Distribution Committee, said yesterday that spring thaws in Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan would result in the converging of “tens of thousands of Jews" in Teheran, a base for emigration to Israel.
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/03/16/archives/disaster-to-jews-seen-spring-thaws-will-send-hordes-into-teheran.html
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/03/16/archives/disaster-to-jews-seen-spring-thaws-will-send-hordes-into-teheran.html
Mar 19, 1951 TIME Assassin Tahmassebi is a carpenter, a reader of the Koran in the mosque, a member of a small xenophobic sect called Fadayan Islam (Crusaders of Islam) which, with fine impartiality, has been denouncing Truman, Stalin and Britain’s George VI.
Washington and London regarded Tahmassebi as a mere triggerman; the real instigator was assumed to be Ayatulla Kashani, head of Fadayan Islam and a member of a twelve-man “National Front” in the Majlis (parliament).
https://time.com/archive/6795434/iran-for-oil-islam/
Mar 18, 1951 NYT The British discovered and developed the Iranian fields, and since 1909 the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, Ltd, has had sole concession to exploit the deposits. The aggregate value of Anglo-Iranian shares on the London stock market is about $720,000,000 Its actual worth is far greater.
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/03/18/archives/iran-whose-oil-britains-stake-murder-and-threats.html
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/03/18/archives/iran-whose-oil-britains-stake-murder-and-threats.html
Mar 18, 1951 NYT The Iranian army is not enthusiastic and it is underequipped; the country is one of those tempting vacuums which expanding great powers have always found so difficult to resist. A vacuum with vacuum upon vacuum behind it!
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/03/18/archives/iran-is-important-because-it-is-weak-its-oil-riches-corruption-and.html
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/03/18/archives/iran-is-important-because-it-is-weak-its-oil-riches-corruption-and.html
Iran Is Important Because It Is Weak; Its oil riches, corruption and mass poverty make the country a tempting plum for Russia. People of Troubled Iran Iran--Important and Weak
P Toynbee article linking Iran importance to her mil weakness; USSR aggression seen deterred only by fear of gen war; map; illus
Mar 21, 1951 NYT Seventeen Pennsylvania State College men who had no special plans as recently as last Friday arrived here yesterday on their way to Iran. Their Easter vacation will be spent there, playing soccer against four Iranian teams and promoting international friendship.
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/03/21/archives/penn-state-team-on-way-soccer-players-bound-for-iran-arrive-here-en.html
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/03/21/archives/penn-state-team-on-way-soccer-players-bound-for-iran-arrive-here-en.html
The nationalization of Iran’s oil industry in 1951 marked a decisive rupture. It was more than an economic reform, it was a direct challenge to a geopolitical order in which Western powers exercised decisive control over resource-rich nations. The nationalization of oil on March 20, 1951, remains a defining moment.
https://irannewsupdate.com/news/general/mohammad-mossadegh-and-the-struggle-for-sovereignty-oil-nationalization-and-the-fight-against-structural-dependency/?amp
https://irannewsupdate.com/news/general/mohammad-mossadegh-and-the-struggle-for-sovereignty-oil-nationalization-and-the-fight-against-structural-dependency/?amp
Mohammad Mossadegh and the Struggle for Sovereignty: Oil Nationalization and the Fight Against Structural Dependency - Iran News Update
An in-depth historical analysis of Mohammad Mossadegh’s leadership, Iran’s oil nationalization, the 1953 coup, and the enduring struggle for national sovereignty and independence.
Mar 22, 1951 NYT Britain reaffirmed today her vital interest in the independence, integrity and security of Iran where martial law has been proclaimed because of disturbances accompanying a campaign to nationalize British oil interests there.
The Government was studying the precedent set by the British Government in appealing to the League of Nations in 1932 when the Iranian Government tried to annul the British oil concession. The Teheran Government, Lord Henderson said, has not replied to Britain's note warning against nationalization of the oil business as proposed by the Iranian Parliament.
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/03/22/archives/britain-stresses-concern-over-iran-morrison-reaffirms-interest-in.html
Mar 22, 1951 NYT The Pennsylvania State College fifteen-man soccer squad departed from La Guardia Airport at 10:20 AM yesterday for Iran. It will be the first American athletic group ever to play on Iranian soil. The team was chosen by the Department of State after the Iranian Athletic Association requested a “good, strong college team” to visit Iran. Since then the trip has been turned into a goodwill tour.
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/03/22/archives/soccer-team-off-for-iran.html
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/03/22/archives/soccer-team-off-for-iran.html
Soon they would arrive in Iran at the request of the US State Department to play several exhibition matches against local teams in an effort to “further goodwill” between a Russia-fearing, communist-hunting American government and a nation one newspaper called a “Cold War hotspot.”
https://onwardstate.com/2017/09/18/cold-war-happy-valley-penn-state-soccer-and-the-quest-to-stop-communism/
https://onwardstate.com/2017/09/18/cold-war-happy-valley-penn-state-soccer-and-the-quest-to-stop-communism/
Cold War, Happy Valley: Penn State Soccer And The Quest To Stop Communism
When the U.S. State Department received an invitation from the Iranian Athletic Association that proposed a diplomatic soccer tour of the country in early spring of 1951, government officials reached out to the national champion Nittany Lions first.
Mar 23, 1951 #ColdWar NYT Martial law has been proclaimed in Teheran to hold in check the fanatical anti-foreign forces that assassinated the late Prime Minister. These reactionary forces are in control of the Majlis. They are fanned to flame in the name of “revolution” by the Communist party, outlawed but engineering public demonstrations.
Iran's position is so vulnerable that in this case expropriation of the oil industry is not a step toward but away from the independence ruler and people passionately desire. It would inevitably increase Russian pressure and power in an area both the Czars and the Politburo have always coveted.
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/03/23/archives/the-stake-in-iran.html
Mar 25, 1951 #ColdWar NYT The unanimous vote of the Iranian Parliament to nationalize the country's oil fields and the installations of the largely British-owned Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, was not simply a domestic decision of interest and concern only in Iran. In the background of that action were several geographical, political and strategic considerations which are of world-wide importance. First of all, Iran lies in that vital part of the world that for centuries has been both a bridge between East and West and the pathway of conquest for most of the empires since beginning of history.
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/03/25/archives/iran-stirs-up-acute-crisis-over-oil-nationalization-plan-is-a.html
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/03/25/archives/iran-stirs-up-acute-crisis-over-oil-nationalization-plan-is-a.html
IRAN STIRS UP ACUTE CRISIS OVER OIL; Nationalization Plan Is A Baffling Problem For the British The Region's Oil Wealth Tide of Social Revolution Britain the Scapegoat Move Called a Mistake Courses of Action Possibilities of Nationalization THE MIDDLE EAST--THE IMPORTANCE OF ITS OIL
on problem created for GB
Mar 26, 1951 TIME Some extremists in Teheran demanded the nationalization of American oil holdings on Bahrain Island in the Persian Gulf. Iran has not exercised effective sovereignty over Bahrain for a century and a half. Since 1880 the island has been a virtual British protectorate.
From Cairo came reports of a move in the Egyptian Parliament to nationalize the Suez Canal, dug by and operated by a French company in which the British government now owns about 44% of the stock.
https://time.com/archive/6608266/iran-whose-ox-is-nationalized/
In October 1951, the Egyptian government unilaterally abrogated the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of 1936, the terms of which granted Britain a lease on the Suez base for 20 more years. Britain refused to withdraw from Suez, relying upon its treaty rights, as well as the presence of the Suez garrison. This resulted in an escalation in violent hostility towards Britain and its troops in Egypt.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suez_Crisis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suez_Crisis
Apr 6, 1951 NYT Teheran has been quiet since the proclamation of martial law. The strikes of the oil workers continue, but without violent incidents. While the unrest and explosive nationalism are held in suspense for the moment, they are still there, danger signals that cannot be ignored. There are forces in the country, including the Shah and Premier Hussein Ala, well known here for his fight against Russia in the United Nations, working against heavy odds for political reform and social progress. They must be assured that they are not abandoned.
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/04/06/archives/our-attitude-toward-iran.html
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/04/06/archives/our-attitude-toward-iran.html
Apr 7, 1951 NYT There was no question of the gravity to the Iranian Government in the rising and violent sentiment of nationalism. The Shah was said to be determined to take the measures necessary to meet any threat to his Government. The Iranian Parliament's action on the oil resources has been having an evident effect in neighboring oil-rich Iraq and in Egypt. The gaining strength of nationalism, stimulated and spurred for their own purposes by the Communists, is being directed almost solely against the Western Powers.
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/04/07/archives/us-britain-conferring-on-iranian-oil-west-faces-acceding-to.html
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/04/07/archives/us-britain-conferring-on-iranian-oil-west-faces-acceding-to.html
Apr 10, 1951 NYT The Iranian Ambassador told newsmen there was little possibility his Government would reverse its decision nationalizing petroleum, including the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. "This action was approved unanimously by both houses of Parliament," the Ambassador said. "It is the will of the people."
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/04/10/archives/iran-accord-asked-by-us-and-britain-washington-conference-on-oil.html
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/04/10/archives/iran-accord-asked-by-us-and-britain-washington-conference-on-oil.html
IRAN ACCORD ASKED BY U.S. AND BRITAIN; Washington Conference on Oil Controversy Cites Nations' Past Help to Teheran Confers with Entezam
Brit and US groups led by Amb Franks and Asst Sec McGhee conf; ask Iran to settle issue amicably; cite nations past aid to Iran; Amb Entezam conf with McGhee; sees little chance of reversing nationalizing ruling; Anglo-Iranian co weighs new proposals; atmosphere seen more favorable
Apr 10, 1951 NYT It seemed today in diplomatic quarters that the atmosphere in Iran was becoming more favorable to discussion of a compromise and settlement. A new Government has taken office in Teheran. Order has been restored sufficiently to dispense with martial law around the capital. Strikes in the Anglo-Iranian oil fields in the south have begun to lose support.
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/04/10/archives/new-offers-to-iran-seen.html
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/04/10/archives/new-offers-to-iran-seen.html
Apr 11, 1951 NYT The crisis is not over oil alone. Although Russia is quick to exploit the causes of discontent and is ready to take swift advantage of disorder. The trouble is older and deeper. Symbolizing the unbridgeable gulf between the few rich and the millions of poor.
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/04/11/archives/abroad-irans-problems-go-deeper-than-oil-the-probable-compromise.html
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/04/11/archives/abroad-irans-problems-go-deeper-than-oil-the-probable-compromise.html
Selective cooperation among China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea, driven by the common goal of balancing US efforts and actions and supporting their own strategies, is bolstering the threat that each of them poses to the US.
https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/iran-war-trump-strait-of-hormuz-israel-ceasefire-talks/?ftag=CNM-00-10aab6a&linkId=928708514
https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/iran-war-trump-strait-of-hormuz-israel-ceasefire-talks/?ftag=CNM-00-10aab6a&linkId=928708514
Live Updates: Vance says no agreement reached after marathon session of direct talks with Iranian and Pakistani officials
Vice President JD Vance told reporters that "we have not reached an agreement" following face-to-face talks with Iranian leaders and Pakistani negotiators.
Apr 14, 1951 NYT The fanatically nationalistic religious groups in Iran that played so large a part in the present wave of nationalist agitation are also Shiite. In Iraq, as in Iran, politically active young people and “intellectuals" in general talk incessantly of British “imperialism”. Any revolt in the Middle East under the slogan of “Drive out the British Imperialists" will awaken widespread sympathies among the nationalist masses.
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/04/14/archives/iran-reper-cussion-in-mideast-is-seen-communist-agitators-able-to.html
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/04/14/archives/iran-reper-cussion-in-mideast-is-seen-communist-agitators-able-to.html
Apr 18, 1951 NYT The Iranian Foreign Ministry tonight accused the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company of complicity in fomenting strikes and outbreaks of violence that forced the company's giant Abadan refinery to shut down.
Dr Ahmed Ali Ansari, head of the Ministry Information Section, also took occasion to scold foreign correspondents for having sent what he called distorted and tendentious reports on recent events in Iran.
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/04/18/archives/iran-holds-british-fomented-strikes-accuses-angloiranian-oil-of.html
IRAN HOLDS BRITISH FOMENTED STRIKES; Accuses Anglo-Iranian Oil of Role in Refinery Violence-- Premier Wins Support Work Move Reported Hopes for End of Strike
Iran charges Anglo-Iranian co with role in fomenting strikes and violence; scores foreign newsmen for allegedly slanted repts; Abadan situation worse; Govt holds workers demands legitimate; Sec Acheson defends US-GB talks
Apr 21, 1951 NYT In front of the Shah Mosque in central Teheran today 5,000 persons heard leaders of Fadayan Islam, a fanatical Moslem brotherhood specializing in political assassination, admonish Premier Hussein Ala, ominously, to release their imprisoned confederates and "return to a right course."
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/04/21/archives/iranian-fanatics-threaten-premier-moslem-nationalists-at-rally-tell.html
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/04/21/archives/iranian-fanatics-threaten-premier-moslem-nationalists-at-rally-tell.html
Apr 22, 1951 NYT On the island of Abadan, in the delta of the Tigris and Euphrates in Iran, is the world's largest oil refinery. For the first time in three decades, the Abadan refinery was shut down. Its closing came after weeks of unrest and confusion in Iran, unrest which has caused grave concern in the West.
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/04/22/archives/the-world-iran-and-its-oil.html
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/04/22/archives/the-world-iran-and-its-oil.html
Apr 23, 1951 NYT Rightist group, including members of the National Front and Fadayan Islam, an organization of fanatical Moslem zealots, had gathered 1,000 strong in Parliament Square. When the Leftist demonstrators marched into the square they held a counter-meeting during which various slogans were adopted by acclamation. The present Iranian Government was accused of "murdering defenseless workers and students in Abadan to safeguard the interests of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company."
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/04/23/archives/students-in-iran-clash-in-rallies-bruises-abound-as-leftist-and.html
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/04/23/archives/students-in-iran-clash-in-rallies-bruises-abound-as-leftist-and.html
Apr 29, 1951 NYT Urgent and serious thought has been given to the strategic position of the United States and of the democratic world in this sensitive area. Yet as the resignation yesterday of Premier Hussein Ala and the succession today of Dr. Mohammed Mossadegh, the anti-British leader of the National Front demonstrate the picture here continues to deteriorate. Unfortunately Iran is not a country with a democratic or parliamentary tradition.
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/04/29/archives/iran-kept-in-turmoil-by-oil-and-communism-iranits-oil-and-its.html
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/04/29/archives/iran-kept-in-turmoil-by-oil-and-communism-iranits-oil-and-its.html
May 1, 1951 NYT The bill, unanimously passed by the Majlis or lower House Saturday, will become operative when issued under the Shah's hand and seal. The sovereign has no veto power.
The British contention that the 1933 concession could not legally be denounced by unilateral action was unfounded, Dr. Mossadegh maintained, since that agreement had been obtained under duress and threat of force.
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/05/01/archives/iran-senate-votes-oil-nationalizing-acts-unanimously-after-new.html
May 2, 1951 NYT As far as can be ascertained from past pronouncements, Dr. Mossadegh's attitude in the East- West conflict is one of “plague on both your houses.” He is violently anti-foreign and has based his campaign against the Anglo- Iranian Oil Company now to be expropriated under the oil nation- alization law largely on an appeal to the anti-British sentiments of his countrymen.
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/05/02/archives/30000-iranians-hail-soviet-at-may-day-peace-rally-attitude-on.html
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/05/02/archives/30000-iranians-hail-soviet-at-may-day-peace-rally-attitude-on.html
May 3, 1951 NYT Iran's oil-nationalizing law became operative today after it had been issued as an imperial decree under the hand and seal of Shah Mohammed Riza Pahlevi. Henry F. Grady, United States Ambassador, also saw Dr. Mossadegh this morning. Mr. Grady touched upon the oil problem as well as on the United States military and economic aid program in Iran.
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/05/03/archives/irans-shah-makes-oil-law-operative-signs-oil-bill.html
https://www.nytimes.com/1951/05/03/archives/irans-shah-makes-oil-law-operative-signs-oil-bill.html
