The U.S.-Soviet Confrontation in Iran, 1945-1962: A Case in the Annals of the Cold War

235 Pages·2009·0.48 MB·English

by  Kristen Blake

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University Press of America®, Inc. L
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publishing across academic disciplines since 1975
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“A complete analysis of a vital period in Iran’s political development. A ‘must’ read for
anyone interested in the troubled history of America’s relations with modern Iran.”
—Roger Owen, professor of Middle East history at Harvard THE U.S.-SOVIET
This book is a study of the origins, development, and end of the U.S.-Soviet Cold
War rivalry in Iran from 1945 to 1962 and its influence on the political and economic
CONFRONTATION
development of the country. It traces the roots of this rivalry to the Anglo-Soviet
occupation of Iran in 1941 during the Second World War that subsequently led to
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U.S. involvement in Iran in 1942 as part of the Allied war effort. While analyzing H
the superpower rivalry, the book also focuses on the development of U.S.-Iranian E
IN IRAN, 1945-1962

relations and U.S. policy toward Iran, whose primary goal was to keep Iran free from U
communism. The book traces the development of U.S.-Iranian relations and U.S. .S
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policy toward Iran through the Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy administrations -
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and examines whether there were any elements of continuity among the three admin- NO
istrations in keeping Iran free from communism. The book also provides an in-depth IV
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analysis of the response of the Shah and the Iranian government to foreign-power E
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rivalry in Iran. N

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KRISTEN BLAKE is associate professor of history and political science at Molloy 9
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College in Rockville Centre, New York. 5
-F A CASE IN THE ANNALS OF THE COLD WAR
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KRISTEN BLAKE
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The U.S.-Soviet
Confrontation in Iran,
1945–1962
A Case in the Annals of
the Cold War
Kristen Blake
UNIVERSITY PRESS OF AMERICA, ® INC.
Lanham (cid:129) Boulder (cid:129) New York (cid:129) Toronto (cid:129) Plymouth, UK
Copyright © 2009 by
University Press of America,® Inc.
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All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
British Library Cataloging in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Control Number: 2009921488
ISBN: 978-0-7618-4495-2 (clothbound : alk. paper)
ISBN: 978-0-7618-4491-4 (paperback : alk. paper)
eISBN: 978-0-7618-4492-1
(cid:2) ™
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum
requirements of American National Standard for Information
Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials,
ANSI Z39.48—1984
Contents
Preface v
Acknowledgments vii
Abbreviations ix
Introduction 1
Map 7
1 Prelude to the U.S.-Soviet Confrontation in Iran 9
2 The Iranian Crisis of 1945–46 and Its Role in Initiating the
Cold War 28
3 The Oil Nationalization Dispute and Its Ramifications 62
4 Iran’s New Pro-Western Stance 94
5 The End of Cold War Tensions in Iran 137
Conclusion 183
Bibliography 193
Index 207
iii

Preface
Today the mention of Iran conjures the image of a hostile country embroiled
in a deepening controversy with the international community over the de-
velopment of its nuclear program, which it claims is for peaceful purposes.
The United States is pressuring Iran to become more transparent about its
nuclear agenda. Russia, on the other hand, has been supportive of Iran and its
right to develop nuclear energy, and in fact helped Iran build a nuclear facil-
ity in Bushehr. Prior to the Islamic Revolution of 1979, Iran and the United
States had an amicable relationship that had developed during the early years
of the Cold War, when Iran became an arena for U.S.-Soviet rivalry. The
United States had helped Iran resist Soviet attempts to spread its influence
and control over the country. The origins of this superpower rivalry, which
influenced Iran’s political and economic development, is traced back to the
Second World War.
During the Second World War, Iran had declared its neutrality. The Ger-
man attack on the Soviet Union in the summer of 1941, however, drew Iran
into a whirlpool of events that would undermine its sovereignty. Iran became
the focal point of Anglo-Soviet and American war efforts against Germany
for several reasons. First, Iran’s geographical location and close proximity to
the Soviet Union made it the suitable route through which the Allies could
provide war supplies to the Soviets. Second, Iran had established strong eco-
nomic ties with Germany over the years and there were German advisers and
employees who were actively involved in the country. Third, the Soviets and
the British had their own interests to protect with regard to Iran. The British
wanted to protect their oil interests in southern Iran, and at the same time
protect their interests in India, from any German encroachment. The Soviets
wanted to protect their southern borders, which they shared with Iran, as well
as their oil wells in Baku, which lay in close proximity to the Iranian border.
v
vi Preface
At the same time, the Soviets intended to pursue their interests in northern
Iran by obtaining an oil concession from the Iranian government. The Ameri-
cans, at the time, did not have well-defined interests in Iran and were only
concerned with the Allied war effort.
The British and the Soviets began to pressure Reza Shah to expel the
Germans from Iran. Reza Shah, however, refused and insisted on Iran’s neu-
tral stand in the war. In a coordinated effort, the two powers occupied Iran
on August 25, 1941. Soviet troops took control of the northern part of Iran
while British troops took control of the southern part. A neutral zone, which
included the capital, Tehran, was placed under Iranian control. A year later,
American advisers and troops came to Iran as part of the Allied war effort.
These conditions set the stage for an unprecedented rivalry among the super-
powers in Iran that eventually led to the Iranian Crisis of 1945-46, which be-
came a major factor in the development of the Cold War between the United
States and the Soviet Union. The U.S.-Soviet confrontation in Iran continued
well beyond the settlement of the Iranian Crisis until the early 1960s.
This book is a study of the origins, development, and end of the U.S.-Soviet
Cold War rivalry and tensions in Iran from 1945 to 1962 and its influence on
the political and economic development of the country. In analyzing the U.S.-
Soviet rivalry during the aforementioned period, the book will focus on the
development of U.S.-Iranian relations and U.S. policy toward Iran, which was
primarily concerned with preventing the spread of communism in the country.
The book traces U.S. policy toward Iran through the Truman, Eisenhower,
and Kennedy administrations and examines whether there were any elements
of continuity among the three administrations in keeping Iran free from com-
munism. The book also provides an in-depth analysis of the response of the
Shah and the Iranian government to foreign-power rivalry in Iran.
This book is based on a number of primary sources, including: declassified
U.S. government documents collected at the National Archives in College
Park, Maryland; documents printed in the Foreign Relations of the United
States series as well as the analysis and coverage of certain key events in the
State Department Bulletin; Russian sources noted in correspondences and
protocols between heads of states as recorded by the U.S. State Department
and the American embassy in Iran; Russian newspapers and periodicals; Brit-
ish sources as cited in the Foreign Relations of the United States and certain
secondary sources; and Iranian sources, which include memoirs of prominent
Iranian statesmen, the Iranian Oral History Project conducted at Harvard Uni-
versity, and leading Iranian newspapers and periodicals of the period. I have
tried to use these sources objectively to show how the superpower rivalry
affected Iran’s political and economic development from 1945 to 1962.
Acknowledgments
This book developed out of over a decade of research and study regarding the
U.S.-Soviet Cold War rivalry in Iran between 1945 and 1962 that eventually
culminated in my doctoral dissertation in 1999 presented to Harvard Univer-
sity. A new chapter has been added and the other chapters have been revised.
I owe much to my mentors whose guidance and support over the years
enabled me to complete this project. First, I would like to thank Roger Owen,
professor of Middle Eastern History at Harvard University, who was my dis-
sertation adviser, for his generous support and guidance in helping me com-
plete this manuscript. Next, I would like to thank Roy Mottahedeh, professor
of Islamic History at Harvard University, who was my second adviser. I
would also like to thank Oktor Skjaervo, professor of Iranian Studies at Har-
vard University, for his guidance and generous support during my graduate
studies and research that eventually paved the way for the completion of this
manuscript. I would also like to thank Beatrice Manz, professor of History at
Tufts University, who reviewed part of the manuscript and provided valuable
comments, for which I am extremely grateful.
I would like to thank my colleagues at Molloy College for their encour-
agement and support while I was completing this project. Special thanks go
to Sister Francis Kammer and Sister Francis Piscatella for their support and
kindness throughout the years. Professor Nicholas Fargnoli is an inspiration
and he encouraged me from the very beginning to publish this manuscript.
Professor Emerita Loretta Lagana, Sister Francis Kammer, Dr. Lelia Roeck-
ell, Dr. Stephan Ethé, Dr. Paul Van Wie, Joseph Maher, Dr. Tom Ryley, and
Ms. Joyce Nappo in the Department of History and Political Science were
all supportive. I would like to thank the Faculty Research and Scholarship
Committee at Molloy College for the grant that enabled me to complete
this project. Special thanks go to the librarians at Molloy College for their
vii
viii Acknowledgments
help and patience: Robert Martin, Norman Weil, Winnie Chen, Patricia Sul-
livan, Ellen Rich, and Margaret Gough. I would especially like to thank Ann
Kirschner, my copy editor, for her patience and valuable advice that helped
me refine this manuscript. I am truly grateful to Judith Rothman, vice- presi-
dent and director of University Press of America, Inc., Patti Belcher, Brooke
Bascietto, Brian DeRocco and other members of the editorial board of UPA
for their patience and support that helped me bring the manuscript to fruition.
Finally, I would like to thank my parents and family for their love and support
throughout the years.
Abbreviations
AID Agency for International Development
AIOC Anglo-Iranian Oil Company
ARAMCO Arabian-American Oil Company
ARMISH United States Mission to the Iranian Army
BMEO British Middle East Office
CENTO Central Treaty Organization
CIA Central Intelligence Agency
CINCEUR Commander in Chief, Europe
DLF Development Loan Fund
ECA Economic Cooperation Administration
FBI Federal Bureau of Investigation
EXIM Export Import Bank
FO Foreign Office
GENMISH United States Mission to the Iranian Gendarmerie
GNP Gross National Product
GTI Division of Greek, Turkish, and Iranian Affairs, Department
of State
IBRD I nternational Bank for Reconstruction and Development
(World Bank)
ICA International Cooperation Administration
ICBM Intercontinental Ballistic Missile
IMF International Monetary Fund
IRBM Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile
JCS Joint Chiefs of Staff
KGB Committee for the State Security of the Soviet Union
MAAG Military Assistance Advisory Group
MAP Mutual Assistance Program
ix