World War II: Iran--President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Demands Reparations (2010)


Figure 1.--American Lend Lease shipments played an importabt part in the defeat of NAZI Germany. The problem was, as in World War I, how to get the supplies to Russia. The northern Artic route faced icy waters and ferocious German resistance. The Pacific route required shipment in Soviet ships and the limitations of the narrow Trans-Siberian Railway. It would be the through southern route through Iran that most of the Lend Lease supplies would be delivered. This was the longest route, but faced miniml German resistance. The oroblem ws that Iran had primitive infrasructure, incapable of transporting the vast quantities of war supplies needed by the hrd-pressed Soviet Red Army. This is what the American engineers found when they attived in Iran (1942). This is the state of roads in a town. You can imagine what the roads were like in the countryside. Most countries were deveststed by the War. Iran was very different. The Americans in Iran built a modern transport system from the ground up, including ports, roads, and a vastly expanded rail system. Source: Soldier with the 3rd Military Railway Service, Persian Gulf Command.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who doesn't dare stand in an open election and denies the Holocaust has come up with a new idea, that theAllied powers (America, Britain, and Russia) should compensate Iran for the World War II occupation of 'neutral' Iran. Ahmadinejad maintains thsat Iran suffered immensely after it was invaded by Britain and the Soviet Union. He announced on state television that "A team has been assigned to calculate all the damages in the Second World War. This will be an invoice they [Allied powers] must pay to the Iranian nation (Janusary 9, 2010). course the very statement of the issue is a half-truth. Iran in 1941 had not declared war on Brirain and the Soviet Union. The Shah and much of the military were pro-NAZI. It is unclear just how penetratedthe Iranian government was. but it is clear there was more than just anti-British feeling. The Shah gave refuge to the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem who was actively promoting Iranian support for the NAZIs. The British and the Soviet Union after the Shah repeatedly refused to expel German nationals intervened. The questions of reparatiojs is an interesting one. Of course President Ahmadinejad only wants to look at one side of the ledger. There are two aspects that Ahmadinejad does not want vto address. First is all the infrastructure the Allies were responsible. Iran became a major conduit for Lend Lease aid to the Soviet Union. And not only did Iran receive some Lend Lease aid, but the United States financed a major upgrade of Iranian infrastructure (ports, roads, and railways). This was done to accomodate the transportation of the American war material to the Soviets, but Iran was thus a beneficiary because it ended the War with a modern infrastructure. And the British and American personnel in Iran provided a stimulus to the Iranian economy. Second, Ahmadinejad is oblivious to what it meant for Iran that the Amerucans and British prevented both a NAZI or a permanent Soviet occupation. To see wehast that would have meant there are plenty of examples. One can look at what happened in Romania, another oil rich country, during the War. The NAZIs simply seized any resources useful to them. Of course there behavior in other countries like Poland and Yugoslavia was much worse. Or you can look at what the Italians did in Libya. And there arevmany examples of Soviet conduct in Muslim areas such as the various countries of Central Asia.







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Created: 11:09 AM 10/11/2014
Last updated: 11:09 AM 10/11/2014