Table Of ContentCold War History Series 
General Editor: Saki Dockrill, Senior Lecturer in War Studies, King's College, 
London 
The Cold War History Series aims to make available to scholars and students the 
results of advanced research on the origins and the development of the Cold War 
and its impact on nations, alliances and regions at various levels of statecraft, and 
in areas such as diplomacy, security, economy, military and society. Volumes in 
the series range from detailed and original specialised studies, proceedings of 
conferences, to broader and more comprehensive accounts. Each work deals with 
individual themes and periods of the Cold War and each author or editor 
approaches the Cold War with a variety of narrative, analysis, explanation, 
interpretation  and  reassessment  of  recent  scholarship.  These  studies  are 
designed to encourage investigation and debate on important themes and 
events in the Cold War, as seen from both East and West, in an effort to deepen our 
understanding of this phenomenon and place it in its context in world history. 
Titles include: 
Gunter Bischof 
AUSTRIA IN THE FIRST COLD WAR, 1945-55 
The Leverage of the Weak 
Christoph Bluth 
THE TWO GERMANIES AND MILITARY SECURITY IN EUROPE 
Dale Carter and Robin Clifton (editors) 
WAR AND COLD WAR IN AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY, 1942-62 
Saki Dockrill 
BRITAIN'S RETREAT FROM EAST OF SUEZ 
The Choice between Europe and the World, 1945-1968 
Martin H. Folly 
CHURCHILL, WHITEHALL AND THE SOVIET UNION, 1940-45 
John Gearson and Kori Schake (editors) 
THE BERLIN WALL CRISIS 
Perspectives on Cold War Alliances 
Michael F. Hopkins, Michael D. Kandiah and Gillian Staerck (editors) 
COLD WAR BRITAIN, 1945-1964 
New Perspectives 
Ian Jackson 
THE ECONOMIC COLD WAR 
America, Britain and East-West Trade, 1948-63 
Saul Kelly 
COLD WAR IN THE DESERT 
Britain, the United States and the Italian Colonies, 1945-52 
Dianne Kirby (editor) 
RELIGION AND THE COLD WAR
Wilfred Loth 
OVERCOMING THE COLD WAR 
A History of Detente, 1950-1991 
Erin Mahan 
KENNEDY, DE GAULLE AND WESTERN EUROPE 
Steve Marsh 
ANGLO-AMERICAN RELATIONS AND COLD WAR OIL 
Crisis in Iran 
Donette Murray 
KENNEDY, MACMILLAN AND NUCLEAR WEAPONS 
Effie Pedaliu 
BRITAIN, ITALY AND THE ORIGINS or THE COLD WAR 
Andrew Roadnight 
UNITED  STATES  POLICY  TOWARDS  INDONESIA  IN  THE  TRUMAN  AND 
EISENHOWER YEARS 
Kevin Ruane 
THE RISE AND FALL OF THE EUROPEAN DEFENCE COMMUNITY 
Anglo-American Relations and the Crisis of European Defence, 1950-55 
Helene Sjursen 
THE UNITED STATES, WESTERN EUROPE AND THE POLISH CRISIS 
International Relations in the Second Cold War 
Antonio Varsori and Elena Calandri (editors) 
THE FAILURE OF PEACE IN EUROPE, 1943-48 
Cold War History 
Series Standing Order ISBI\' 978-0-333-79482-1 
(outside North America only) 
You can receive future titles in this series as they are published by placing a standing order. 
Please contact your bookseller or, in case of difficulty, write to us at the address below with 
your name and address, the title of the series and the ISBN quoted above. 
Customer Services Department, Macmillan Distribution Ltd, Houndmills, Basingstoke, 
Hampshire RG21 6XS, England
Anglo-American Relations 
and Cold War Oil 
Crisis in Iran 
Steve Marsh
* © Steve Marsh 2003 
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2003 978-0-333-96831-4 
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of 
this publication may be made without written permission. 
No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or 
transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with 
the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, 
or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying 
issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court 
wn 
Road, London  4LP. 
Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this 
publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil 
claims for damages. 
The author has asserted his right to be identified 
as the author of this work in accordance with the 
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. 
Published by 
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN 
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N. Y. 10010 
Companies and representatives throughout the world 
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave 
Macmillan division of St. Martin's Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. 
Macmillan® is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom 
and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European 
Union and other countries. 
ISBN 978-1-349-42839-7  ISBN 978-0-230-28765-5 (eBook) 
DOI10.1057/9780230287655 
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and 
made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. 
A catalogue record for this book is available 
from the British Library. 
A catalogue record for this book is available 
from the Library of Congress.
To Lorna and Brian 
And for Nuria. Te quiero, siempre
Contents 
Acknowledgements  ix 
List of Abbreviations  x 
Introduction  1 
1  'What reason commands, the heart approves': 
The Special Relationship of 1950  10 
Postwar Anglo-American malaise  11 
The bond of mutual utility  16 
Britain, America and the Middle East  22 
Britain, America and Iran  29 
Special once more  32 
2  Formative Times  37 
From concord to discord  38 
Paradigm shift  40 
Beyond Anglo-American consensus  50 
Ominous tidings  58 
3  From Dispute to Crisis  62 
Echoes of imperialism  63 
Ties that bind  67 
The Harriman mission  72 
Ties that frustrate  75 
Security Council action  78 
What goes around comes around  80 
The Anglo-American nadir revisited  84 
4  The Special Relationship of 1952  89 
Conference preparation  89 
The Washington talks  95 
The state of the Special Relationship  101 
5  Escaping the Special Relationship 'Trap'  105 
Anglo-American reassessments  105 
An Anglo-American lull  112 
Truman's reluctant 'gallop'  117 
vii
viii  Contents 
'One more big effort': the Truman administration's 
last oil plan  124 
Truman's legacy  135 
6  Enter the Republicans  139 
Continuity not change  139 
Full circle  149 
Operation Ajax  ISS 
From coup to consortium  163 
Conclusion  169 
A Cold War triumph  169 
An effective Anglo-American relationship?  171 
The global Anglo-American relationship  176 
Lessons for the study of international relations  180 
Notes and References  195 
Bibliography  252 
Index  266
Acknowledgements 
This book has been variously a labour of fascination, frustration and 
compromise. Perhaps the most difficult task has been deciding what to 
leave out. This was the case when writing the first draft, but especially so 
in editing to fit the final remit. Any remaining errors or quirks of inter 
pretation are, of course, mine, but the outcome, I feel, is a work that 
holds true to the traditions of the Cold War History Series. 
Along the way I have incurred a number of debts of gratitude, all of 
which I happily acknowledge. The first is to the archivists and librarians 
in numerous archives and libraries in both Britain and America. My par 
ticular thanks here go to the Harry S. Truman library, whose staff were 
exceptionally helpful and whose scholarship was vital, and to the BP 
archive for access to invaluable company records that afforded me new 
insights into the oil crisis. I am also grateful to all those involved with 
this project at Palgrave, to Saki Dockrill, series editor, and to the British 
Academy for their indispensable research grant. 
I would like to acknowledge, too, those academics whose comments 
and suggestions on various aspects of this work have made it all the richer. 
In this respect I am particularly grateful to James Bamberg, Robert 
Bideleux, Fiona Venn, John Young, and the referees of the book's first draft 
whoever you are! And, for moral support and holding to their ideals, my 
thanks go to David Broughton, Hans Mackenstein and Pete Dorey. 
Within any project, however, there is always someone without whom 
it might never have existed. In my case there are two. First, Nuria 
Lorenzo-Dus, who has painstakingly read draft after draft, indulged my 
creativity (aka moods), and enriched my life in so many ways. Second, 
my friend and mentor, Alan P. Dobson, who first inspired me and whose 
comments and soul-crushing rigour (those who have been on the receiv 
ing end will know of what I speak!) have been so instructive in writing 
this book. Thank you, both. 
STEVE MARSH 
ix
List of Abbreviations 
AIOC  Anglo-Iranian Oil Company 
ANZUS  Defence pact between United States, Australia and 
New Zealand 
APOC  Anglo-Persian Oil Company 
ARAMCO  Arabian American Oil Company 
BP  BP Archive 
CIA  Central Intelligence Agency 
DDE  Dwight D. Eisenhower Library 
DMPA  Defence Materials Procurement Agency 
EDC  European Defence Community 
ERP  European Recovery Programme 
ExIm Bank  United States Export-Import Bank 
FRUS  Foreign Relations of the United States 
FTC  Federal Trade Commission 
GTI  United States Office of Greek, Turkish and 
Iranian affairs 
HMG  His/Her Majesty's Government 
HST  Harry S. Truman Presidential Library 
IBRD  International Bank for Reconstruction and 
Development 
IC]  International Court of Justice 
IMF  International Monetary Fund 
IPC  Iraq Petroleum Company 
ITO  International Trade Organisation 
MDAP  Mutual Defence Assistance Programme 
MEDO  Middle East Defence Organisation 
NA  National Archives Washington 
NATO  North Atlantic Treaty Organisation 
NEA  United States Bureau of Near Eastern and 
African affairs 
NIE  National Intelligence Estimate 
NIOC  National Iranian Oil Company 
NSC  National Security Council 
OEEC  Organisation for European Economic Cooperation 
PAD  Petroleum Administration for Defense 
PRO  Public Record Office 
SACEUR  Supreme Allied Commander Europe 
SACLANT  Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic 
UN  United Nations 
US  United States 
USSR  Union of Soviet Socialist Republics 
x