1942: Iran

Practically roadless in the modern sense, Iran in 1942 herself became the main land highway between Russia and her allies. At the same time, the country of the Shah blocked the Axis trail between Europe and Asia. This 'Land of the Aryans,' remembering Cyrus, Darius and Xerxes and days when she stretched from the Indus to the Aegean, became again in the past year both geographically and economically a world figure.

With a new Shah, Iran in 1942 experienced four different governments, signed treaties with Great Britain and Russia, engaged in a Lease-Lend agreement with the United States, strengthened her ties with others of the United Nations and moved against the Axis. Domestic problems were augmented by foreign troops on her soil, by thousands of Polish refugees, a rise in living costs.

The year began with Shah (or King) Mohammed Reza Pahlevi enthroned only three and a half months. This 23-year old ruler became king upon the abdication and banishment of his father, King Reza Pahlevi, to Mauritius Island by combined political and military action of Great Britain and Russia; they arrived in Iran with troops and armored cars, by their unity ending the king's long pitting of one against the other. The young king, educated in Switzerland and a man of touching simplicity, is married to the sister of King Farouk of Egypt. One of his first acts as sovereign was to restore his father's land holdings and private fortune to the state.

Though he was quoted as considering his land an 'occupied country,' he also realized it as the 'key route linking Britain and Russia'; though he regretted that the Anglo-Russian-Iranian Treaty was not signed before the occupation, he was politically — and geographically — favorable to these Allies; and while realizing he was powerless under democratic procedures to get Teheran's Chamber of Deputies to sign the Treaty, he hoped they would do so. On Jan. 30, 1942, the Treaty was signed, reaffirming the Atlantic Charter. Britain and Russia promised respect for Iranian territorial sovereignty and political independence; to protect her from any attack; to withdraw within six months after all hostilities have ended, and to do all that is possible to safeguard the economic existence of the Iranian people against difficulties resulting from the war. Iran under the Treaty takes responsibility for domestic order; grants unrestricted right (for the passage of troops or supplies) to use, maintain, guard and in some instances to control all means of communication throughout Iran; undertakes to furnish all possible assistance to obtain material and labor; and grants Britain and the Soviet the right to maintain land, sea, and air forces on Iranian territory. The Treaty was received without enthusiasm by the Iranians. They felt it drew them nearer to war. They had little faith in the British, and were suspicious of Russia.

Rumors and developments marked the first six months of the year. With respect to the United States, on May 2, Iran and the United States signed a Lend-Lease Agreement. Relations with Great Britain, aside from the signing of the Treaty with Russia, included a late 1941 British shipment of wheat into Iran; the arrival from Britain of more rolling stock for the railways; and the placing, on Jan. 16, of Lieut. Gen. Sir Claude. J. E. Auchinleck in command of British and Indian forces in Iraq and Iran. In August it was reported that Britain had an estimated 150,000 men in Iran, supplemented by 10 divisions of Russians in the Caucasus and in Northern Iran.

Relations were severed with Vichy in February, with Japan in April. In June, relations were opened with China, and a new rapprochement with Czechoslovakia eventuated in the setting up of a Czech legation in Teheran. Russia gave Iran assistance in repulsing the Kurds in March, which led to reports of better Turko-Soviet relations with the lessening of Iranian disorders; the United States Ambassador in Ankara is said to have employed his good offices.

In the Moslem world, stirring into new demands, as are the millions of Asia, Iran stands pivotally in the area where East and West meet. She hopes to strengthen the ties between herself and the Moslem States of Afghanistan, Iraq and Turkey, as begun in the Saadabad Pact. She has become a nation vital as a connecting link between the Allies. On Dec. 5, agreement was reached by Iran, Great Britain and the United States, under which the last named nations will supply Iran with wheat and other cereals to bring up her stocks to minimum requirements. The acute shortage of cargo ships make such an action a sacrifice but the first instalments were to be sent from British Army resources in the East. The agreement was important to Iran; for 80 per cent of her population subsists largely on bread and occasional fruit. Russia was kept informed of the agreement and will help later if possible.

1941: Iran

As increasing numbers of German 'tourists' entered Iran during the first half of the year, British statesmen feared that Germany planned to invade this strategic link between Iraq and India. On March 6 Foreign Minister Anthony Eden called attention of the House of Commons to the German 'Fifth Columnists' in Iran, but — except for mild diplomatic protests to the Iranian government — the British took no apparent steps to remedy this situation. In May, however, British troops moved decisively to counter a Nazi-inspired coup in neighboring Iraq; and after the Anglo-Russian agreement of July 13 for wartime cooperation, Britain and the Soviet Union focused attention on Iran, where the alleged presence of about 3,000 Nazi agents prompted simultaneous British and Soviet diplomatic action.

Allied Diplomatic Offensive.

In July the Russians began to point out that Article VI of the 1921 Soviet-Iranian treaty authorized the Soviet Union to send its troops into Iran in case any third country should attempt to use Iran as a base of operations to endanger the U.S.S.R. Soviet diplomats claimed that Nazis, under supervision of the German legation at Teheran, were storing ammunition along the northern Iranian border and trying to organize terrorists in Russian Azerbaijan to carry on sabotage in the Baku oil fields. During the summer months Britain also negotiated with Iranian officials about means of controlling Nazi activities, and in the second week of August, London and Moscow each delivered friendly warnings to the Teheran government. On Aug. 16, Russia and Britain jointly sent Iran their most forceful protest against the Nazi infiltration. In reply, a few Nazis were expelled from the country, but on Aug. 21, Prime Minister Ali Khan Mansur expressed the Shah's decision to resist British and Russian interference.

Anglo-Soviet Occupation.

The U.S.S.R. and Great Britain began their invasion of Iran on Aug. 25. Russian forces entered the country from the Caucasus on the northwest, occupied Tabriz, and then advanced along the road to Teheran. British and Indian troops rapidly seized oil and pipe-line installations from the Persian Gulf to Kasr-i-Shirin, and occupied Bandar Shahpur — southern terminus of the Trans-Iranian Railway — and the oil refining center at Abadan. Meanwhile, the British Navy incapacitated the Shah's small fleet in the Persian Gulf and took over Axis ships in Gulf ports; the Russian Navy in the Caspian Sea captured the port of Bandar Shah, northern terminus of the Trans-Iranian Railway. British and Russian planes put the Iranian Air Force out of action, and dropped propaganda leaflets on Teheran, Isfahan, Shiraz and Kazvin.

On Aug. 26 it was reported that Iran had asked for peace. The Cabinet resigned, and Ali Furanghi formed a new government on Aug. 27. The Teheran radio announced on the following day that the new government had ordered its troops to 'cease fire.' An Anglo-Soviet agreement containing peace terms was presented to the Teheran government the first week in September and was accepted by the Iranian Parliament on Sept. 9. Terms of the agreement provided for: (1) the closing of German, Italian, Rumanian and Hungarian legations, (2) the surrender of all nationals of Axis countries, (3) the continuance of British and Soviet payments for oil and Caspian fisheries concessions, (4) British occupation of the Anglo-Iranian oil fields from the Persian Gulf to Khaniqin and Kermanshah, (5) Soviet occupation of northwestern Iran as far east as the railhead at Bandar Shah and as far south as Kazvin and Semnan — but not including Teheran — and (6) Russo-British control of airdromes and communications in the unoccupied section of Iran. The exodus of Axis nationals began on Sept. 13, when the first 80 Germans left Teheran for internment in Siberia and India.

The Allied occupation of Iran removed all Axis influence from the country and assured the Allies of about 10,000,000 metric tons of oil annually. It also gave them complete control over the Trans-Iranian Railroad and the Caspian Sea for transporting American and British supplies to the Soviet Union. A trainload of tanks, the first British equipment sent over the Trans-Iranian Railway en route to Russia, arrived at Teheran on Dec. 13.

Internal Changes.

Reza Shah Pahlevi abdicated on Sept. 16 — under Allied pressure — and was succeeded by his 21-year-old son, Crown Prince Mohammed Reza Pahlevi. The new Shah announced on Sept. 18 that he would grant amnesty to his father's political prisoners and give all the possessions of his father — said to be one of the richest men in Asia — to his country as a gift. It was reported, however, that on the preceding day a group of parliamentary leaders, in a secret meeting, had decided to confiscate the former Shah's property. The young Shah inaugurated various democratic reforms and issued statements affirming his belief in constitutional government, education and liberalism. During the remaining months of the year he was successful in avoiding difficulties with the Allies and apparently maintained the good will of his subjects.

1940: Iran

Iran's attention during 1940 was focussed on economic problems resulting from the European war, and particularly warfare in the Mediterranean. The country imports most of its finished goods, and a great share of its production is destined for export. Before the war, Germany was by far the leading supplier and customer for Iran. In the last period for which statistics are available—the 9 months ended March 21, 1939—the Reich took 44.3 per cent of the country's exports and supplied 38.8 per cent of its imports. This trade, like most Iranian commerce, passed through the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean, and it was cut off suddenly by the extension of hostilities to Mediterranean waters.

Iran succeeded in concluding several economic agreements that partially offset its wartime difficulties. In a technical financial arrangement of Feb. 16, 1940, Great Britain agreed to provide credits to the Iranian government for the purchase of British supplies. A more far-reaching trade and navigation treaty was concluded between Soviet Russia and Iran on March 26, when the Soviet Government granted rights to transport Iranian foodstuffs, clothing, hides and skins, and vegetable oils to Germany and Sweden through the U.S.S.R. This treaty also cleared the political atmosphere of rumors regarding a possible Soviet attack. These fears had persisted ever since January, when Iran and Afghanistan were reported to have proposed to Iraq and Turkey that the Saadabad non-aggression pact, concluded among the four powers in 1937, be converted into a military alliance.

Petroleum is the preponderant export commodity of Iran—fourth ranking world producer of oil—and oil royalties constitute a leading source of Government revenue. In August the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company and the Iranian Government concluded a new agreement under which Iran is to receive a minimum duty of £4,000,000 from the company for 1940 and 1941—representing approximately a 12 per cent royalty increase which will greatly reduce shareholders' earnings. Since the British Government owns a majority of stock in the company, the payment of substantially higher duties to Iran may have political implications designed to safeguard British interests in the Middle East.