Iran and the Trauma of World War II

Despite her neutrality, Iran was invaded during World War II
Above, American and Russian soldiers stand behind a Persian Lcomotive built by Germany's Krupp.
No compensation was ever given for the requisition and degradation of the Trans-Iranian Railways System

During World War II Iran experienced a double tragedy. She suffered occupation by the Soviet Union and Britain and she was deprived of the leadership of her great king just at a time when a strong, experienced hand was needed to steer her destinies. Two factors appear to have combined to produce this sad outcome: Iran's strategic position and Reza Shah's authoritarian personality. As for the first, geopolitics had cast Iran into the difficult position of being the only practical route of access for Western military supplies to the hard- pressed Soviet allies. With regard to the second factor, the fear that Reza Shah inspired even in his closest collaborators prevented them from telling him the full truth about what they knew concerning the real intentions and attitudes of both Britain and the Soviet Union. Had the Shah not been deceived by this misleading and incomplete information, perhaps he would have made adjustments in his policy in a way that would have satisfied both London and Moscow and thus obviated the necessity for military occupation of Iran. Forced to abdicate in favor of his son and go into exile, Reza Shah left his native land with the sad awareness that much of his great work was undone and that his beloved country was suffering a general relapse.

Alike coolies, Iranian workers are forced by invaders to load their own requisitioned trains

Indeed, the war years witnessed a reappearance of many evil features of the past, while the military presence of foreign powers on Iranian soil encouraged attitudes of treachery and an unscrupulous search for personal gain.

To fill the cup of bitterness, moreover, it became clear that Communist Russia had entered Iran not merely for the purpose of assuring the smooth flow of supplies from the West to her own territory. Her designs were definitely more ambitious. They were starkly revealed in the Molotov-Hitler agreement of November 26, 1940, in which the Soviet government demanded and obtained the consent of the Axis powers that "the area south of Batum and Baku in the general direction of the Persian Gulf is recognized as the center of the aspirations of the Soviet Union."* Thus Iran faced not only an actual foreign occupation but a concrete threat to her very existence as an independent state.

Note
This page was reproduced from the Internet site of "Farhad Sepahbody" former Ambassador of Iran at:
http://users.sedona.net/~sepa

*The complete text of the agreement can be found in Raymond J. Sontag and James S. Beddie, eds., Nazi-Soviet Relations 1939-1941: Documents from the Archives of the German Foreign Office (Washington. D.C., U.S. Department of State, 1948), p.259.

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