The Abadan Crisis (Persian : بحران نفتی ایرانBohrân Nafti Irân, "Iran Oil Crisis") occurred from 1951 to 1954, after Iran nationalised the Iranian assets of the BP controlled Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC) and expelled Western companies from oil refineries in the city of Abadan.
The AIOC was the United Kingdom's "single largest overseas asset" and a "source of national pride" in the British post-war era of Clement Attlee and Ernest Bevin. Even as late as the "1940s and early 1950s some high British officials still believed that Persian petroleum was actually and rightly British petroleum because it had been discovered by the British, developed by British capital, and exploited through British skill and British ingenuity." [1]
In stark contrast, Iranian Premier Mohammad Mosaddegh believed the 1933 concession granted to the AIOC by Iran was "immoral as well as illegal". Mosaddeq "challenged every aspect of the British commercial presence in Iran". The British feared that if Mosaddeq's policies prevailed, "nationalists throughout the world could abrogate British concessions with impunity." [2]
The AIOC was nationalized by the Iranian Parliament in March 1951. In Iran this was enormously popular and seen as a long overdue staunching of the bleeding of its national wealth which could now be harnessed to fighting poverty in Iran. In Britain, the nationalisation was widely seen as an intolerable breach of contract or theft. British emissaries in the United States after the nationalisation, argued that allowing Iran to nationalise the oil company "would be widely regarded as a victory for the Russians" and would also "cause a loss of one hundred million pounds per annum in the United Kingdom's balance of payments, thus seriously affecting our rearmament program and our cost of living." [3]
British warships blockaded Abadan. On 22 August, the British cabinet imposed a series of economic sanctions on Iran. It prohibited exports of key British commodities, including sugar and steel, directed the withdrawal of all British personnel from Iranian oil fields and all but a hard core of about 300 administrators from Abadan and blocked Iran's access to its hard currency accounts in British banks. [4]
After the withdrawal of the British workers in the fall of 1951, the Iranians felt confident that they could easily hire non-British technicians to run the industry and then quickly train their own nationals to replace them. This did not prove to be the case; the United States, Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, Pakistan, and West Germany all refused to make their technicians available to the nationalized Iranian industry. Only Italy agreed, demonstrating that most industrialized countries supported Britain over Iran in the nationalization dispute." [5]
In July 1952, the Royal Navy intercepted the Italian tanker Rose Mary and forced it into the British protectorate of Aden on the grounds that the ship's petroleum was stolen property. News that the Royal Navy was intercepting tankers carrying Iranian oil scared off other tankers and effectively shut down oil exports from Iran. [6]
The prime minister, who was selected by the Shah and approved by the Majlis, was overthrown on 19 August 1953, following a coup d'état orchestrated by the United Kingdom and the United States. During the coup, codenamed Operation Ajax, the CIA and MI6 restored Mohammad Reza Pahlavi to power. In August 1954, the AIOC was set under the control of an international consortium. Initially, ownership shares in the consortium proposed to be divided along the following lines: 40% to be divided equally (8% each) among the five major American companies with BP to have a 40% share, Shell 14% and CFP 6%. Iran now received 25% of the profits compared to 20% of the original treaty with the AIOC. Saudi Arabia and other oil-exploiting countries of the region received up to 50% of the profits in cooperation with American oil companies at the same time.[ citation needed ]
In April 1951, the Majlis nationalized the Iranian oil industry by a unanimous vote, and the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) was formed, displacing the AIOC. The AIOC withdrew its management from Iran and organized an effective worldwide embargo of Iranian oil. The British government, which owned the AIOC, contested the nationalization at the International Court of Justice at The Hague, but its complaint was dismissed.[ citation needed ] NIOC was established right after nationalization of oil.
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Mohammad Mosaddegh was an Iranian politician, author, and lawyer who served as the 30th Prime Minister of Iran from 1951 to 1953, elected by the 16th Majlis. He was a member of the Iranian parliament from 1923, and served through a contentious 1952 election into the 17th Iranian Majlis, until his government was overthrown in the 1953 Iran coup aided by the intelligence agencies of the United Kingdom (MI6) and the United States (CIA), led by Kermit Roosevelt Jr. His National Front was suppressed from the 1954 election.
Sayyed Abol-Ghasem Mostafavi-Kashani was an Iranian politician and Shia Marja. He played an important role in the 1953 coup in Iran and the overthrow of Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh.
The 1953 Iranian coup d'état, known in Iran as the 28 Mordad coup d'état, was the U.S.- and British-instigated, Iranian army-led overthrow of the democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh in favor of strengthening the autocratic rule of the shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, on 19 August 1953, with the objectives being to protect British oil interests in Iran after its government refused to concede to western oil demands. It was instigated by the United States and the United Kingdom. This began a period of dissolution for Iranian democracy and society whose effects on civil rights are prevalent to this day.
The Anglo-Persian Oil Company was a British company founded in 1909 following the discovery of a large oil field in Masjed Soleiman, Persia (Iran). The British government purchased 51% of the company in 1914, gaining a controlling number of shares, effectively nationalizing the company. It was the first company to extract petroleum from Iran. In 1935 APOC was renamed the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC) when Reza Shah formally asked foreign countries to refer to Persia by its endonym Iran.
The Tudeh Party of Iran is an Iranian communist party. Formed in 1941, with Soleiman Mirza Eskandari as its head, it had considerable influence in its early years and played an important role during Mohammad Mosaddegh's campaign to nationalize the Anglo-Persian Oil Company and his term as prime minister. From the Iran crisis of 1946 onwards, Tudeh became a pro-Soviet organization and remained prepared to carry out the dictates of the Kremlin, even if it meant sacrificing Iranian political independence and sovereignty. The crackdown that followed the 1953 coup against Mosaddegh is said to have "destroyed" the party, although a remnant persisted. The party still exists but has remained much weaker as a result of its banning in Iran and mass arrests by the Islamic Republic in 1982, as well as the executions of political prisoners in 1988. Tudeh identified itself as the historical offshoot of the Communist Party of Persia.
The National Front of Iran is an opposition political organization in Iran. It was founded by Mohammad Mosaddegh in 1949, and it is the oldest and arguably the largest pro-democracy group operating inside Iran, despite having never been able to recover the prominence it had in the early 1950s.
The National Iranian Oil Company is a government-owned national oil and natural gas producer and distributor under the direction of the Ministry of Petroleum of Iran. NIOC was established in 1951 and restructured under The Consortium Agreement of 1954. NIOC ranks as the world's second largest oil company, after Saudi Arabia's state-owned Aramco.
Ali Razmara, also known as Haj Ali Razmara, was a military leader and prime minister of Iran.
Hossein Fatemi was an Iranian scholar. A close associate of Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, he proposed nationalization of Iranian oil and gas assets. Initially a journalist, he served as minister of foreign affairs from 1951 to 1953. After the 1953 coup d'état toppled the government of Mosaddegh, Fatemi was arrested, tortured, and convicted by a military court of "treason against the Shah", and executed by a firing squad.
The United Kingdom v Iran [1952] ICJ 2 was a public international law dispute between the UK and Iran. This case concerned the nationalization of Iran's oil which had been, in large part, controlled by the United Kingdom since the early 20th century.
The Abadan Crisis was a major event in Iranian history. It began when the British Government invited themselves to the Middle East to look for oil, a resource that could not be found in their own land. Oil was discovered in commercial quantities in the southwest of Iran in May 1908. Although the oil did not belong to the British they claimed it as their own and forced the Abadani people to risk their own lives in oil refinery’s to collect it. The British then sold it to western countries, earning themselves millions of pounds and hiding the majority of the profits to the Iranian government and its people.
Sir George Humphrey Middleton was a British diplomat.
Mark J. Gasiorowski is a political scientist at Tulane University in New Orleans in the field of Middle East politics, Third World politics, and U.S. foreign policy.
Parliamentary elections were held in Iran in 1952 to elect the 17th Iranian Majlis.
The nationalization of the Iranian oil industry resulted from a movement in the Iranian parliament (Majlis) to seize control of Iran's oil industry, which had been run by private companies, largely controlled by foreign interests. The legislation was passed on March 15, 1951, and was verified by the Majlis on March 17, 1951. The legislation led to the nationalization of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC) and the formation of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC). The movement was led by Mohammad Mosaddegh, a member of the Majlis for the National Front and future prime minister of Iran. The movement to nationalize the oil industry was the reaction to the following concessions made by Iran to foreign powers: the Reuter concession of 1872, proceeding letter,D'Arcy Concession?] the 1933 agreement between the Iranian government and AIOC, and the Gas-golshaian[?] contract. According to the political scientist Mark J. Gasiorowski, the oil nationalization movement had two major results: the establishment of a democratic government and the pursuit of Iranian national sovereignty.
Seyyed Hossein Makki was an Iranian politician, orator and historian. He was a member of Parliament of Iran for three consecutive terms from 1947 to 1953.
Mohammad-Ali Angaji was an Iranian Shia cleric and politician. A loyal National Front member, he served as a member of parliament during the 17th term and ran for the 1954 election in Tehran. He was elected to the 73-seats Assembly of Experts for Constitution in 1979.
Abbas Eskandari was an Iranian Communist politician and a co-founder of Tudeh Party of Iran.
Nader Batmanghelidj (1904–1998) was an Iranian military officer who served in various military and government posts. He also served as the ambassador of Imperial Iran to Pakistan and Iraq.
Atash was a right-wing Persian-language newspaper published from 1946 to 1947 in Tehran, Iran.
