On the eve of World War II, many Iranians contrasted the United States with Great Britain and the Soviet Union, seeing it as the one international actor that could help Iran gain control of its future. Moreover, the American role in forcing Soviet invaders to leave Iranian Azerbaijan after the war reinforced this positive image. Using information from U.S. State Department documents that were published in the "Foreign Relations of the United States" series, books and articles by participants, and several scholarly works, this article describes events 60 years ago that seemed to portend a different path for U.S.-Iran relations.
British and Soviet troops invaded Iran on 25 August 1941. At the time, and for many years afterward, the main reason given for this was that German influence in Iran at the start of World War II was pronounced. Reza Shah Pahlavi's reliance on German technology for his ambitious development plans worried the Allies, who feared the Germans might make Iran a base for operations against the Soviet Union. In addition, in the wake of the June 1941 German invasion of the USSR, the Allies needed Iran as a channel for supplies to the Soviet Union. Furthermore, London had the defense of India in mind, and it wanted to safeguard its oilfields and refineries in Iran. Research of the British intelligence archives in the 1980s, however, indicated that the degree of German influence in Iran might have been exaggerated to justify partially the Anglo-Soviet invasion.
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