"The field of endless intrigue": the contest for north Iranian oil, 1916-1947
"The field of endless intrigue": the contest for north Iranian oil, 1916-1947
The interwar period saw fitful attempts by British, American, French and Russian interests to secure oil concessions for Iran’s northern provinces, in a region traditionally perceived as a Russian sphere of interest. Drawing on corporate as well as familiar state archives, this article argues that the contest over concessions in this region served political more than narrowly economic agendas. Though this contest was convoluted, repetitive and ultimately inconclusive, it sheds light on the emergence of a world oil cartel, as well as the relations between oil-producing and oil-consuming countries before World War II. This article challenges familiar state-centred narratives of oil diplomacy and critiques the tendency to view the history of Iranian oil as one of all-out plunder by Britain and the Anglo-Persian Oil Company. It outlines the political as well as intellectual obstacles; obstacles not only to achieving a more equitable allocation of Pahlavi Iran’s oil wealth prior to Mossadegh’s 1951 nationalisation, but to conceptualizing what such an equitable allocation might have looked like.
Conlin, Jonathan
3ab58a7d-d74b-48d9-99db-1ba2f3aada40
Conlin, Jonathan
3ab58a7d-d74b-48d9-99db-1ba2f3aada40
Conlin, Jonathan
(2024)
"The field of endless intrigue": the contest for north Iranian oil, 1916-1947.
International Journal of Middle East Studies.
(doi:10.1017/S002074382400103X).
Abstract
The interwar period saw fitful attempts by British, American, French and Russian interests to secure oil concessions for Iran’s northern provinces, in a region traditionally perceived as a Russian sphere of interest. Drawing on corporate as well as familiar state archives, this article argues that the contest over concessions in this region served political more than narrowly economic agendas. Though this contest was convoluted, repetitive and ultimately inconclusive, it sheds light on the emergence of a world oil cartel, as well as the relations between oil-producing and oil-consuming countries before World War II. This article challenges familiar state-centred narratives of oil diplomacy and critiques the tendency to view the history of Iranian oil as one of all-out plunder by Britain and the Anglo-Persian Oil Company. It outlines the political as well as intellectual obstacles; obstacles not only to achieving a more equitable allocation of Pahlavi Iran’s oil wealth prior to Mossadegh’s 1951 nationalisation, but to conceptualizing what such an equitable allocation might have looked like.
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the-field-of-endless-intrigue-the-contest-for-north-iranian-oil-1916-1947
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e-pub ahead of print date: 27 January 2024
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Local EPrints ID: 499314
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/499314
ISSN: 0020-7438
PURE UUID: 91031052-c412-4ed9-9412-f1804fa9177e
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Date deposited: 14 Mar 2025 18:00
Last modified: 22 Aug 2025 01:56
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