Boycott Failed

How Did Our Oil Get Under Their Sands?
By Luigi Frascati

At a time when yet another conflict is emblazing the Middle East which involves the Jewish State of Israel on one side and Hezbollah, the paramilitary militia founded, trained and financed by the Islamic Republic of Iran on the other side, it is worth to take a look at the initiatives, economic and military, launched and underwritten by the West in Iran throughout the years. The importance of looking back at history is to be found in the fact that, far from being a tug of war between the Israelis and Hezbollah, this relatively localized conflict threatens to expand well beyond the borders of Southern Lebanon, and to involve players much bigger than the ones who are presently fighting. Particularly when one can find calls already on the part of some decidedly extremist Bloggers and columnists, that the time has come to drop a couple of bunker-buster bombs on Iran's uranium-purifying facilities. It is also all the more important to know the plight of the people and be aware of the circumstances that have given rise to the ascent of Islamic Fundamentalism in Iran, a country which is placing itself - now more than ever - in a collision course with the West.

It is difficult for Westerners to fully grasp the sheer force of nationalistic feelings in Iran, and how much these feelings centre on oil. With virtually no other natural resources and a history of being under foreign domination, the people of Iran have come to see oil as their economic lifeline, upon which the foundations of any vision of national identity and pride must necessarily be built. And, ironically, these very nationalistic feelings have inevitably brought them in the past to clash with the powerful economic concerns of the West, who saw the region's oil as their own legitimately-claimed property.

By the early 1950's international oil companies had managed to effectively gain control over Iranian oil, and a desire to take that control back became a potent force throughout the country. It was a drama that was played out most vividly - and tragically - in 1951, when the charismatic Mohammed Mossadegh became a towering nationalist figure. With his inspiring visions and powerful oratorical skills, Mossadegh attracted a huge number of followers. Because of this a parallelism has been drawn by many historians between Mohammed Mossadegh and Martin Luther King, Jr. in terms of political and social effectiveness on the masses. Mossadegh was a democrat with a deep commitment to the rule of law. He was also at the head of a movement that pioneered democracy in Iran with great success.

One of the most volatile issues in Iranian politics was the enormously favourable deal that had been granted to a British oil concern, the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. This name was, in fact, a misnomer since there was nothing remotely Iranian about it. It was entirely British owned, and it had been given a sixty-year concession for all of Iran's oil. As a result, massive revenues from Iranian oil flowed into the British treasury, while Iran merely received a small token share of the revenues and had no voice whatsoever in the company's management - not even the right to audit the company's books.

It was within this context that the then Shah of Iran - Mohammed Reza Pahlavi - backed politically and financially by the British, in 1949 tempered with the national elections in order to secure a legislative body favourable to Britain and to the status quo. Mossadegh instead favoured the revocation of all oil rights and called upon all those who wanted fair elections - which numbered in the tens of thousand - to hold a vigil in front of the Royal Palace in Tehran. After a vigil of three days and three nights, and so as to avoid the start of what was promising to be a civil war, the Shah agreed and granted new elections.

Mossadegh was elected triumphantly, and immediately began the political push for more democracy and for more national control over oil. By the end of 1951, with enormous popular support, Mossadegh recommended that the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company be entirely nationalized. This move passed fully in the Iranian legislative body and in the Senate, even though both were controlled by the Shah's appointed deputies. The British were flabbergasted as the Iranians, under the leadership of Mossadegh, proceeded swiftly with the nationalization of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company and all of its assets.