Spending a Saturday morning drinking tea and perusing the Britannica Book of the Year 1948 – physical not digital – I learned something new about Iran (which isn’t saying much, since my knowledge of Iran is pretty limited). Seems like both are part of the Iranian Crisis of 1946.
Province of Azerbaijan
Technically eyalet (at least according to Wikipedia), Azerbaijan is a northwestern province which borders – unsurprisingly – the Republic of Azerbaijan. The Soviets and the British took control of the region during World War II and didn’t return it after the war. The Soviets did nothing when the Iranian government sent in troops in 1947, allowing Iran to formally restore the pre-war borders.
Nationalized Oil
In 1946, Iran signed an oil agreement with the Soviet Union that was very unfavorable to Iran – supposedly signed under some duress. New laws passed in 1947 canceled the agreement and defined parameters that would protect the Iranian oil industry:
1) [the original] oil negotiations and oil agreement with the soviet government should be null and void;
2) the government should take measures to establish with five years the location and quantity of all oil resources, that negotations should be started for its eventual sale to Russia;
3) it should be forbidden to grant any concessions for the extraction or refining of oil to foreigners or to create any oil company with the participation of foreigners;
4) in cases where the rights of the Iranian nation regarding the natural resources of the country were threatened, particularly in the case of the Anglo-Iranian Oil company, the government should take necessary measures and inform the Majilis.
Britannica Book of the Year 1948, p409
Again, knowing little of Iranian history, I have no idea how this ties into the future Iranian Revolution and overall relations with the west, but sure there’s something.
