Since the last days of the World War II (1939-1945) Iran became a hotbed of the international diplomacy due to the Azerbaijan or Iranian crisis of 1945-1946. The crisis originated in the Soviet threat to Iran’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity because of the Soviet delay in evacuation from Iranian territory. During World War II the Anglo- Soviet Allied powers occupied Iran on August 25, 1941, and since then the Soviet troops had been stationed in northern Iranian provinces while the British took control of southern Iran. The Anglo-Russian powers pledged to withdraw their forces from Iran six months after the end of the war. However, taking advantage of war-time and post-war time disorders in Iran the Soviet Union made efforts to instigate the people of Azerbaijan and Kurdistan to press demands for autonomy. Thus, Azerbaijan and Kurdistan became Soviet satellites. The Soviets then took firm position in these Iranian territories and they were quite unwilling to withdraw their troops from Iranian territory for economic, geo-strategic and military reasons. The Iranian government hastened to send its forces to restore control over those provinces, but failed due to Soviet threat. When this resulted in a crisis, Iran turned to the US to resolve it. The crisis was then resolved by the proactive US policy. The timely intervention of the US and an oil agreement between Tehran and Moscow put an end to the crisis. This article attempts to present a comprehensive analysis of the nature and course of this Iranian crisis of 1945-46 and the US policy towards it.
Md. Abul Kalam Azad (Mon,) studied this question.