This poor Cossack soldier who did not own a horse had a good taste for land and buildings, and eventually became the biggest landowner in Iran. He owned about three thousand villages. If he showed an interest in a property, his servants would take care of the transfer of the deed - with or without the owners' permission. When he was transferring his wealth to his son he had 90,000,000 Tomans in his account (I have no way of exchanging this number except to say that the salary of a Minister in the cabinet was 500 Tomans a month and a two-star general was paid 400 Tomans a month.
In the international arena he had become so arrogant that he cut off Iran's relationship with the U.S. because a D.C. cop gave a ticket to an Iranian diplomat without recognizing his political immunity. He chastised the French ambassador because a French newspaper had made fun of him.
Relations with the Soviet Union had already deteriorated because of his severe crackdown on Iranian communists. Iranian intellectuals who started the foundation of the Iranian communist party were arrested and prosecuted. Their leader, Dr. Arani was put to death. (The story of socialism in Iran is to be followed in the next part of this series).
Dr Arani one of the Founders of Iranian communist party.
Like many people in the Middle East he was fed up with both the Russians and the British.
1939, Berlin, Germany: From left, Iranian Ambassador to Germany and Speaker of Iranian Parliament visiting Hitler.
He replaced them by Germans, not knowing where Hitler was going to take him. The Germans agreed to sell him the steel mill that he wanted badly.
Iranian pilots
These plots looked far too similar to German pilots.
He badly irritated the British when he insisted on being paid for Iran's share of oil revenues when the British were fighting Germans. The Allies had had enough of him and they gave them the rope to hang himself with.
The 1943 Allied Invasion: Russia needed American help, the only railroad system connecting warm waters to Russia was Iran's railway system from Khoramshahr (a Persian Gulf Port) to Jolfa (a border town of Iran and Russia).
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