Oil and the killing of the American Consul in Tehran / Mohammad Gholi Majd.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Majd, Mohammad Gholi, 1946-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

World War, 1914-1918--Iran--Tehran.

World War, 1914-1918.

Petroleum industry and trade--Iran--Tehran.

Petroleum industry and trade.

Imbrie, Robert Whitney, 1884-1924.

Imbrie, Robert Whitney.

Iran--Tehran.

Physical Description:

350 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Lanham, MD : University Press of America, [2006]

Summary:

In the wake of World War I, British attempts to exclude American oil companies from Iraq and Persia caused serious strains in Anglo-American relations. In May 1921 an "oil entente" was reached that granted American oil companies an "open door" and "equal opportunity" in Iraq, and in return America acknowledged British domination of Persia and monopoly of its oil. This entente was soon tested when Persians gave an oil concession to the Sinclair Oil Company of New York and tried to rid themselves of the recently installed Pahlavi dictatorship. It was in the midst of this unrest, in May of 1924, that American Vice-Consul Robert Imbrie arrived in Tehran. Almost immediately after his arrival, Imbrie began sending reports to Washington that were highly critical of the British policies in Persia. On July 18, 1924, Imbrie was brutally murdered in Tehran, supposedly by a mob of religious fanatics. To save face and avoid international complications, the U.S. government accepted the Persian government's version of the killing.

In this detailed examination of Anglo-American, American-Persian, and Anglo-Persian relations, author Mohammad Gholi Majd argues that Imbrie was in fact the victim of a conspiracy. Using records of the U.S. Department of State, this text examines how the murder enabled Britain to maintain its monopoly of Persian oil and further consolidate the Pahlavi dictatorship. The killing of Imbrie ultimately facilitated the consummation of the Anglo-American oil entente.

Contents:

Chapter 1 Anglo-American Discord on Middle East Oil 1

Chapter 2 Exchange of Notes and American-British "Oil Entente" 59

Chapter 3 American Interest in North Persia Oil and Persian Offer to Standard Oil 99

Chapter 4 Standard Oil-Anglo-Persian Combination and Rivalry with Sinclair Oil 159

Chapter 5 Sinclair Concession and Impact of Oil Scandal in America 213

Chapter 6 The Killing of Consul Imbrie: A Documentary Account 239

Chapter 7 A Whitewash of the Crime and a Travesty of Justice 285.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0761835040

0761835059

OCLC:

70243907

Publisher Number:

9780761835042 (cloth : alk. ppr.)

9780761835059 (pbk. : alk. ppr.)