Sardar Sepah Becomes Prime Minister
Ahmad Shah, the last Qajar king appointed Reza Pahlavi as the new Prime Minister and left for Europe eight days later. It's not clear what exactly happened between Reza Pahlavi and General Ironside in 1921 but the world power balance was changing and Reza Pahlavi took the power in his own hands. Ahmad Shah could never return home and died in Paris in 1930.
The country was in a chaos and needed serious reforms in all fields. Reza Khan proclaimed king in 1926 and called himself Reza Shah, the founder of Pahlavi Dynasty. He was a man of talent and courage and accomplished great projects that Iranians could not even dream of at that time. Centuries of imperialist meddling inside the corrupt Qajar court had left the country in the hands of tribal leaders that soon wanted their share of the power. The central government with a powerful army was soon formed and Reza Shah became Iran's new dictator. Although he succeeded in modernizing the country and accomplished projects such as railroad, banking, university, his greed for power stopped him short from moving the country towards democracy and in the end he had more enemies than friends, and his faith was not much different than Ahmad Shah and he died in exile in 1944. (Updated: Oct, 26, 2008)
Oil Deal Signed With Sinclair
The Iranian government signed an agreement that gave exclusive rights to petroleum resources of 4 northern provinces to the American Sinclair company in return for a %10 share and ten million dollars loan. Prime minister Reza khan expressed his content with the deal in a celebration ceremony in Tehran as he saw the competition that started with the entrance of American companies in favor of Iranians, breaking economic and political monopoly imposed by Russia and UK for centuries. Moreover, financial resources were needed to modernize the country. Sinclair somehow had managed to make a similar deal with the Soviets in Baku although USSR had not yet been recognized by Americans. Thus, a second corridor to transfer the Iranian oil through the Black Sea rendered the British monopoly practically obsolete.
The British government and Standard Oil started an intensive campaign against Sinclair in US and Iran. Late in 1923, American media published the news that Sinclair was involved in a scandal bribing the US Navy authorities with $260,000 in return for control of oil reserves. Sinclair was sentenced and sent to jail. Consequently, the Soviets nullified the Sinclair agreement in Baku and the Morgan bank which was supposed to provide the loan set forth a strange condition. Iranians were asked to give the British equal share of the deal in order to receive the payment. At the same time, British supplied arms and money to Sheikh Khazal to stage an uprising in the Khuzestan province, an area in Iran which was under British control. Mob Murder of a high ranking American diplomat on July, 18, 1924 following an orchestrated propaganda against Americans in Iran gave the Americans strong signals that the British still held enough power to secure their interests in Iran. (Updated: Feb, 11, 2009)
English-Persian Glossary
- Sheikh Khazal : شيخ خزئل
- Reza Pahlavi : رضا پهلوي

- Ahmad Shah : احمد شاه

- Reza Khan : رضاخان

- Khuzestan : خوزستان(Khoozestan, Khuzistan,Susiana)

- Reza Shah : رضا شاه(Sardar Sepah, Reza Gholdor) رضا خان

- Sinclair : سينکلر
- Minister : وزير

- American : آمريكائي ينگه دنيائي

- British : انگليسي

- Pahlavi : پهلوي(Pahlevi)

- Iranian : ايراني اهل ايران ، وابستهبه ايران

- Dynasty : دودمان ال، خاندان پادشاهان، سلسله

- Khazal : خزعل

- Tehran : تهران(Teheran, Tahran) طهران

- Murder : آدمکشي

- Sheikh : شيخ

- Russia : روسيه

- Europe : اروپا

- Paris : پاريس

- Qajar : قاجار(Ghajar)

- Sepah : سپه

- Ahmad : احمد

- Baku : باکو
- Shah : شاه پادشاه

- Iran : ايران

- Khan : خان

- USSR : اتحاد جماهير شوروي(Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.))
- Reza : رضا

- Mob : جمعيت

- Oil : نفت

- Sea : دريا

- US : ايالات متحده

- UK : انگليس(United Kingdom)
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