A Soviet View on the Assassination of the Iranian Prime Minister, Haj ʻAli Razmara, in the Context of the Early Years of the Cold War

Bibliographic Data

ID9979173
AuthorsSoli Shahvar (0000-0002-3647-4668, University of Haifa, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume56
Issue2
Pages309-320
Publication date2023-02-10
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueIranian Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0021-0862 • E-ISSN: 1475-4819
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/irn.2022.71
OpenAlexW4319982733
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited6

Using Soviet foreign ministry documents found in the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History, this article seeks to shed a new light on the identity of those behind the assassination of Haj ʻAli Razmara in 1951, and the reasons for it. In seeking a power to back his aspirations to become the ruler of Iran, Razmara hopped between the USSR and the United States, finally gambling on USSR. In spite of this, the United States was not in a hurry to get rid of him; instead, they preferred to use the Shah's fear of Razmara to secure the former's cooperation and to extract from him what they wanted, especially oil concessions in Iran. However, by then Iran was already marching rapidly toward oil nationalization, which Razmara opposed on the grounds that the USSR should be the power that produced the oil for the Iranians. This was unacceptable to the Americans, who, according to Soviet sources, decided to get rid of Razmara during the early stages of the Cold War

Ancient history · Christian ministry · Cold war · Context (archaeology · Economic history · Great power · Ministry of Foreign Affairs · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Prime minister · Ruler · State (computer science · History · Islamic Studies and History · Law · Middle East and Rwanda Conflicts · Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence

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