IOR/L/PS/12/3543

Correspondence and other papers relating to the Soviet Union’s demand, made to the Iranian Government during the Anglo-Soviet occupation of the country in the Second World War, for an oil concession agreement in northern Persia [Iran]. The file, which is chiefly comprised of correspondence between the British Ambassador at Tehran, Reader William Bullard, and the Foreign Office, covers: the deterioration in relations between the Soviet Union and the Iranian Governments, in the wake of the Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Sa’ed’s consideration and subsequent refusal to grant the Soviet Government oil concessions in Persia; the activities of the Soviet Assistant Commissar in Tehran, Sergey Kavtaradze, and his efforts to persuade the Sa’ed Government to grant Soviet Russia oil concessions in northern Persia; Sa’ed’s resignation in November 1944, and the subsequent political crisis in Iranian Government that ensued; descriptions of reports in the Iranian press, Soviet press, and pro-Soviet newspapers affiliated to the Tudeh Party of Iran. The file also includes a report entitled ‘An Account of the Kavir-i-Khourian Oil Concession North Persia’, prepared by the Research Department at the Foreign Office in September 1945, and illustrated with map and photographs (ff 10-21).

The file includes a small amount of text in French (extracts of Iranian newspaper articles and Iranian Government laws).

The file includes a divider, which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.