British foreign policy towards Iran with special reference to the nationalisation of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, 1948-54

• Main Author: Moussavizadeh, A.-R.
• Published: Swansea University 1993
• Subjects: 327.42
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.638268

This thesis examines British foreign policy towards Iran with special reference to the nationalisation of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, 1948-54. It is not about the internal politics of Iran. The thesis is concerned with the British perception of the crisis. The Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (which changed its name in December, 1954 to the British Petroleum Company Limited), was one of the world's major oil companies. It was the most important British enterprise overseas and the main British interest in the Persian Gulf. Oil was a vital issue in British foreign policy. In 1951 the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company was nationalised by the Iranian Government. The thesis has traced and analysed the response of two British political parties to what they perceived as a major threat to British interests in an era of severe economic and industrial difficulties. The Anglo-Iranian Oil Company's crisis developed when the Labour Government of 1945-51 was still in power. It came to an end when the Conservative Government was in office in 1954. The thesis provides a brief historical account of Britain and Iran's relationship. Iran's role in the United Kingdom's strategic thinking for the protection of the Indian subcontinent and the discovery of its huge oil reserves which led to the establishment of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company and turned her into a strategic asset for the British Empire which lasted for more than half of the twentieth century has first been discussed. An account of the British Government's involvement in the Iranian oil is given, followed by the events leading to the nationalisation crisis of 1951. An analysis of the Labour Government's policy towards the nationalisation of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company has been made.