Iran and Britain: The Politics of Oil and Coup D’état before the Fall of Reza Shah
British strategy in the Middle East consolidated around a sustained effort to prevent any adversarial penetration into the Persian Gulf, defending its position athwart the principal lines of communication and supply between Northern Europe and British India, and to protect the newly discovered Persian oil that was used to power the Royal Navy. Since the discovery of oil in 1908 by D’Arcy’s oil exp