Anglo-Iranian Oil Co. case

United Kingdom v. Iran
Court	International Court of Justice
Full case name	Anglo-Iranian Oil Co. (United Kingdom v. Iran)
Decided	22 July 1952 (1952-07-22)
Outcome
Jurisdiction rejected [1]
Court membership
Judges sitting	see below
Case opinions
Majority	9 [1]
Dissent	5 [1]

The United Kingdom v Iran [1952] ICJ 2 (also known as the Anglo-Iranian Oil Co. case) 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.

Background

The Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (formerly the Anglo-Persian Oil Company and currently BP) had been drilling for oil in Iran since 1913. In 1908, a British venture capitalist discovered oil in southern Iran. ^[2] Throughout the early 20th century, the ruling Pahlavi government made various concessions with the British that gave the UK control over certain elements in the Iranian economy, the 1901 D'Arcy Concession being the earliest of these oil concessions. In 1933, another concession was made which extended the terms of the D'Arcy Concession by 32 years, from 1961 until 1993 and altered how revenue was allocated. The concession would later stoke discontent within Iran. ^[3]

When Mohammad Mosaddeq became Iran's prime minister in 1951, his National Front party sought to nationalize Iran's oil industry and succeeded in doing so. This then led to the case of United Kingdom v. Iran being taken up by the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Facts of the Case

The UK alleged that the Iranian oil nationalization act of 1951 was counter to a convention agreed upon by the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (now BP) and Iran in 1933. This granted the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company a 60-year licence to mine oil in 260,000 square kilometres (100,000 sq mi) of Iran in return for a percentage royalty.

On 26 May 1951, the UK took Iran to the ICJ, demanding that the 1933 agreement be upheld and that Iran pay damages and compensation for disrupting the UK-incorporated company's profits.

The ICJ quickly issued a temporary ruling, proposing to supervise the operations of the oil company by a board of 5 — two from each state and a fifth from a third — until the legal question had been resolved. The UK accepted, whereas Iran declined as a matter of principle, arguing that the ICJ had no jurisdiction over this case. ^[4] The UK lodged a formal complaint to the Security Council, claiming that Iran jeopardized world peace by rejecting the temporary ruling out of hand, but the UK was unable to gain enough votes. ^[5]

People involved

Sitting judges

Name	Nationality	Position	Opinion
Arnold Duncan McNair	United Kingdom	Presidenta	Majority [1]
José Gustavo Guerrero	El Salvador	Vice Presidenta	Majorityb
Alejandro Álvarez	Chile	Judge	Dissent [1]
Enrique c. Armand-Ugon	Uruguay	Judge	Majorityb
Abdel Hamid Badawi	Egypt	Judge	Majorityb
Jules Basdevant	France	Judge	Dissentb [6]
Levi Fernandes Carneiro	Brazil	Judge	Dissent [1]
Green Hackworth	United States	Judge	Dissent [1]
Helge Klæstad	Norway	Judge	Majorityb
Hsu Mo	China	Judge	Majorityb
John Erskine Read	Canada	Judge	Dissent [1]
Bohdan Winiarski	Poland	Judge	Majorityb [7]
Milovan Zoričić	Yugoslavia	Judge	Majorityb
Karim Sanjabi	Iran	ad hoc Judgec	Majorityb
Edvard Hambro	Norway	Registrar	—
aPresidency for this case was assumed by the Vice President, due to nationality of President. [1] bOpinion not recorded officially. cAppointed by Iranian government acting under Article 31§2 of the ICJ Statute. [1]

Representatives

Iranian delegation [8] Name Role Hossein Navab Agent Mohammad Mosaddegh Nasrollah Entezam Advocate Henri Rolin Allahyar Saleh Counsel Ali Shayegan Mozaffar Baghai Kazem Hassibi Mohamad-Hossein Aliabadi Marcel Sluszny

British delegation [8] Name Role Eric Beckett Agent Lionel Heald Counsel Humphrey Waldock H. A. P. Fisher D. H. N. Johnson A. D. M. Ross Expert Adviser A. K. Rothnie

Judgment

On 22 July 1952, the ICJ decided that because Iran had conceded to ICJ jurisdiction only in cases involving treaties agreed upon after 1932 and as the only treaty cited by the UK after that date was between Iran and a foreign company (and not the UK itself), it had no jurisdiction in this matter (Iran's original contention).

Aftermath

Main article: Nationalization of the Iranian oil industry

Despite the outcome of the case, the British government was determined to both reclaim control of Iran's oil fields and signal to other countries that nationalization efforts would lead to retaliation. ^{[9] : 300} Along with the United States government, it began an oil boycott against Iran as a means of cutting off petroleum profits and weakening the Iranian government. ^[10] The value of the rial fell by 45%. ^[9] Following this, the UK's intelligence service, MI6 requested assistance from the United States' newly-formed Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to overthrow Mosaddeq. What followed was a series of disruptions and eventually Mosaddeq was overthrown in a coup in August 1953. Mohammad Reza Shah returned to Iran, solidified his authority backed by the U.S., and allowed a mix of foreign companies to control pricing and production in the oil sector for another 20 years, though with some increase in domestic revenue. ^{[9] : 300}

See also

• Anglo-Iranian Oil Dispute
• List of International Court of Justice cases

References

1. Hudson, Manley O. (1953), "The Thirty-First Year of the World Court", The American Journal of International Law, 47 (1): 1–19, doi:10.2307/2194147, JSTOR   2194147
2. Elling, Rasmus (February 16, 2015). "Abadan: Oil City Dreams and the Nostalgia for Past Futures in Iran". AJAM Media Collective.
3. Mina, Parviz (July 20, 2004). "Oil Agreements In Iran". Encyclopedia Iranica.
4. Abrahamian, Ervand (2013). The Coup: 1953, the CIA, and the roots of modern U.S.-Iranian relations. New York: New Press, The. p. 110. ISBN   978-1-59558-826-5.
5. Abrahamian, Ervand (2013). The Coup: 1953, the CIA, and the roots of modern U.S.-Iranian relations. New York: New Press, The. pp. 123–125. ISBN   978-1-59558-826-5.
6. "World Court Bars Ruling on Iran Oil", The New York Times, 23 July 1952
7. Sierakowska-Dyndo, Jolanta (2019), "Polish Judge Defended the Iranian Stance (Anglo-Iranian Dispute in 1951)", Studia Litteraria Universitatis Iagellonicae Cracoviensis, 14 (Special): 231–243, doi: 10.4467/20843933ST.19.037.10980
8. Patel, Bimal N., ed. (2002), The World Court Reference Guide: Judgments, Advisory Opinions and Orders of the Permanent Court of International Justice and the International Court of Justice (1922-2000), Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, p. 264, ISBN   9789041119070
9. McKern, Bruce (1993). Transnational Corporations and the Exploitation of Natural Resources. Taylor & Francis. ISBN   978-0-415-08543-4.
10. Heiss, Mary (2004). "The International Boycott of Iranian Oil and the Anti-Mosaddeq Coup of 1953". In Gasiorowski, Mark; Byrne, Malcolm (eds.). Mohammad Mosaddeq and the 1953 Coup in Iran. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press.

External links

• International Court of Justice records of this case