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military affairs. Persian oil made a
n.ajor contribution to Allied victory
in
the First World War.
As Britain's Lord Curzon put it:
"Truly posterity will say that the Allies
floated to victory on a wave of oil."
Much of the oil was from the develop–
ing Jranian oil industry, at that time
controlled by the British.
During World War II, Iran's strate–
gic crossroads position again helped
bring victory for the Allies. Millions of
tons of military hardware from the
Western Powers reached the Soviet
Union vía Iranian overland trans–
portation routes. The T rans-Iranian
Railway was dubbed "The Bridge
to
Victory." If this military aid had not
reached the Russian armies, it is un–
Jikely Russia would have been able to
repulse the Nazi invaders.
Wary of Soviets
Since World War II, Iran has occu–
pied a rather uncomfortable spot in the
East-West power struggle. It was here
that the Cold War really began.
Immediately after the war, Moscow
supported a puppet Communist govern–
ment that seized control of the north–
western Iranian province of Azerbaijan.
lt wasn't until December 1946, that the
rebel government was dislodged.
lran has been deeply suspicious of
Soviet intentions ever since. Recounts
the Shah:
"The Azerbaijan affai r was truly a
lanclmark in modero Middle East his–
tory. It was in Azerbaijan that the post–
war intentions of Stalinist Russia were
first exposed. Jt was then that free men
everywhere first began to awake to the
threat of Communist imperialism.
"l think historians of the future will
say that the Cold War really began in
Iran. There were of course signs of it
elsewhere as well, but the lines were
first clearly drawn here. It was in the
course of the Azerbaijan affajr that
America for the first time in history
began to play a leading role in the
Middle East. Azerbaijan led straight to
the Trumao doctrine which saved
Greece and Turkey from Communist
imperialism"
(ibid,
page
118).
Russian pressure on Iran's territory is
nothing new, of course. Ever since the