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The First Coup

By Hidari, Section Iraq-Iran-Syria
Posted on Sun Jan 24, 2010 at 06:31:29 AM EST

The seemingly endless 'battle' between Britain and Russia over who was to control Iran had seemingly been solved by the treaty of 1907. However, the Bolshevik Revolution changed all that. Lenin, it seemed would constitute a break from the imperial traditions of the Czars. But plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose, and fairly soon (by 1920) 'the Soviet Socialist Republic in Rasht was preparing to march on Tehran with "a guerrilla force of 1500 Jangalis, Kurds, Armenians, and Azerbaijanis", reinforced by the Soviet Red Army.' This period, between 1918 and (roughly) 1923 was of course one of complete chaos throughout the world. And it was just unfortunate for the Persians that their nascent parliamentary democracy had not by this time had the time to, so to speak 'put down roots'.

And so, using the backup of White Russian exiles, in 1921, Reza Khan Sardar Sepah (also known as Reza Khan or Reza Shah) used the chaos to stage a coup. But all was not what it seemed.

(420 words in story) Full Story

The First Revolt

By Hidari, Section Iraq-Iran-Syria
Posted on Sat Jan 16, 2010 at 07:50:51 AM EST

The fate of Iran was really sealed with the Anglo-Russian entente of 1907.. This ended a century of British-Russian politicking and 'covert action' (the so-called Great Game), and divided this area into 'spheres of influence'. Unfortunately a democratic modern Iranian state, which might have ideas of its own, was not on anyone's agenda. Any hope that this might not have been the Great Power's final word on the matter was extinguished by the discovery of oil the following year.

However, every action has a reaction.

(600 words in story) Full Story

Enter the Oil

By Hidari, Section Iraq-Iran-Syria
Posted on Sat Jan 16, 2010 at 07:35:17 AM EST

Of course, all this is ancient history. Why should anyone care about events that took place hundreds of years ago? Well apart from the fact that it shows that the British have no reason to feel aggrieved at the behaviour of the Iranians (but Iranians have very good, and many, reasons to feel aggrieved at the behaviour of the British) the past is sometimes the key to the present.
And the relevance of this long history lesson should become a bit clearer, when we move onwards to 1908: when 'the first oil well in the Middle East was drilled in the region of Naftoon in the center of Masjed Soleyman' (in Iran). With this discovery, British interest in Iran moved into a new gear.

(625 words in story) Full Story

The Tobacco Protest

By Hidari, Section Iraq-Iran-Syria
Posted on Sat Dec 19, 2009 at 03:35:10 AM EST

Next up in our thrilling history of Iranian/British relations is the story of the Tobacco Protest. We will note in passing that this history consists entirely of the British screwing around with Iran, not the other way round.

Anyway!

'The Tobacco Protest, was a Shi'a cleric-led revolt in Iran against an 1890 tobacco concession granted by the Shah to the Western imperial power of Great Britain. The protest climaxed in a widely-obeyed December 1891 fatwa against tobacco use issued by Grand Ayatollah Mirza Hassan Shirazi. The boycott was one of the first times the Iranian religious elite succeeded in forcing the government to retreat from a policy, and was seen as a demonstration that "the Shia ulama were Iran's first line of defense" against colonialism.'

(1 comment, 806 words in story) Full Story

The Reuters Concession

By Hidari, Section Iraq-Iran-Syria
Posted on Wed Dec 02, 2009 at 02:46:20 AM EST

Those naive people who continue to believe in the 'objectivity' of 'our' corporate media, will be interested to learn that the apparently 'esteemed' name of Reuters is not so much associated in Iranian minds with truth and justice as with the Reuters Concession. A concession is merely 'A grant of a tract of land made by a government or other controlling authority in return for stipulated services or a promise that the land will be used for a specific purpose' and it was an extremely important weapon used by Western imperialism to buy off and then destroy 'Eastern' economic rivals in the 19th century. Certainly, after the defeat in the Anglo-Persian war, Iran was ripe for plucking.

(367 words in story) Full Story

The Anglo-Persian War

By Hidari, Section Iraq-Iran-Syria
Posted on Wed Dec 02, 2009 at 02:30:47 AM EST

In our current situation vis a vis Iran, you are unlikely to be told of the long history of British subversion of the Iranian Government. Still less are you likely to be told that Iran and Britain have actually gone to war. And yet it happened.

'The Anglo-Persian War lasted between November 1, 1856 and April 4, 1857, and was fought between the United Kingdom and Persia (which was at the time ruled by the Qajar dynasty). In the war, the British opposed an attempt by Persia to reacquire the city of Herat, which was nominally part of Afghanistan (then a very loose entity) but which had been part of Persia under the Qajar dynasty. Persia ultimately agreed to surrender its claims to the city.'

(426 words in story) Full Story

The Middle Ages and...Enter the British

By Hidari, Section Iraq-Iran-Syria
Posted on Sat Nov 07, 2009 at 03:59:49 AM EST

We can skip past the middle ages, because, although a truly terribly time for the Iranians, this was caused (unusually) not by the 'West' but by the East: Genghis Khan, and his successors. However, our story gets more interesting, and more relevant for our current era, with the rise of the British Empire.

'In 1597, as Abbas I of Safavid (i.e. Persia) sought to strengthen his dominance in eastern Khorasan against rebellious Uzbeks, he received Robert Shirley, Anthony Shirley, and a group of 26 English envoys in Qazvin. The English delegation sought to convert Persia into an English ally against the Ottoman threat. Shah Abbas warmly received the delegation and took them as his guests with him to Isfahan, his new capital.
Soon, the Shirley brothers were appointed by the Shah to organize the royal cavalry and train the army. Many events followed, including the debut of the British East India Company into Persia, and establishment of trade routes for silk though Jask in the Strait of Hormuz in 1616. It was from here where the likes of Sir John Malcolm later gained influence into the Qajarid throne.'

(1 comment, 758 words in story) Full Story

Rome Versus Persian Again.

By Hidari, Section Iraq-Iran-Syria
Posted on Mon Oct 05, 2009 at 05:26:39 AM EST

There's no need to go into a battle by battle description of the seemingly endless warring that took place between the Romans and the Persians over the next few centuries. However needless to say that it was pressure from the Persians that helped to cripple the 'Western' branch of the Roman Empire and which led to the 'fall' of the Roman Empire (the Roman Empire didn't fall of course: only the Western half did, and this could be seen not to much as a 'fall' as a retrenchment and an acknowledgement that the centre of the world's 'gravity' had shifted East.)
However, let's skip forwards to the Seventh Century for the climax of this particular phase of our story.

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