Starting in 1907 Iran was effectively under the domination of Russia and Britain, with the former taking the northern half and the latter the southern half, with a strip of neutral territory in between. [1] Following the Russian civil war, Britain took full control of "Iran's army, treasury, transport system, and communications network." [2] Shah Reza, seizing power in 1921, worked to limit British control of the country, but the colonial power retained substantial power over Iran.

Furthermore, European influence dates back to the 19th century. In 1872 Baron Reuters, a German-born British subject, obtained concessions "to run the country's industries, irrigate its famland, exploit its mineral resources, develop its railroad and streetcar lines, establish its national bank, and print its currency." Lord Curzon called this "the most complete and extraordinary surrender of the entire industrial resources of a kingdom into foreign hands that has probably ever been dreamt of, much less accomplished, in history." [3]

Although this unprecedented concession lasted less than a year, some of its components and additional concessions were granted to British and Russian groups. These included the exclusive right of Russian merchants to the Shah's caviar fisheries as well as the British Imperial Tobacco Company's exclusive right to purchase and sell the country's tobacco in 1891. [4]

Most famous of all was the concession of the country's oil and gas to the British, starting first in 1901. As Iran earnestly attempted to extricate itself from foreign domination in the early 1950s, the prime conflict was over the oil and gas concession to the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (now BP). This culminated in the 1953 coup which overthrew prime minister Mossadegh and installed Shah Reza Pahlavi as absolute ruler. He became an important client of the US in the Middle East, acting as the "policeman of the Gulf". [5] Only following the 1979 revolution did the country truly become indepedent of foreign powers.

[1] p. 38, Stephen Kinzer, All the Shah's Men (2008). [2] p. 39, ibid. [3] p. 31, ibid. [4] p. 32, ibid. [5] p. 104, Kenneth M. Pollack, The Persian Puzzle: The Conflict between America and Iran (2004).