IRAN: Oil Burns
Azerbaijan means "the land of fire." Last week the province of Azerbaijan, in northwestern Iran, was in the heart of a fierce political fire.
In Teheran a Government spokesman announced that Armenians and others in Azerbaijan had rebelled against the Government; the insurgents were being armed from Russian trucks; the situation was "dangerous and painful." Leaders of the uprising were members of the new, separatist Democratic Party, an offshoot of the old Communist Tudeh Party.
In the background of this explosion were 1) Moscow, 2) oil. Ever since the Iranian Majlis (Parliament) curtly rejected Russia's claim for oil rights in northern Iran and forbade any Government to negotiate such rights till after the war (TIME, Dec. 18, 1944), Russia had been needling the Iranian Government. The Azerbaijan revolt looked like the substitution of action for frustrated diplomacy.
Most Popular »
- Another Snowstorm: What Happened to Global Warming?
- Are the Bible's Stories True? Archaeology's Evidence
- Who Were the First Americans?
- Spain's Troubled Economy: Why Europe Is Worried
- Counterterrorism: The Debate Moves Right
- Facing Death and Divorce at the Same Time
- Asian Carp in the Great Lakes? This Means War!
- Obama and Republicans Jockey for (Bi)partisan Advantage
- In Tokyo, Embattled Toyota Chief Faces a Nation
- Another Snowstorm: What Happened to Global Warming?
- Are the Bible's Stories True? Archaeology's Evidence
- Spain's Troubled Economy: Why Europe Is Worried
- Who Were the First Americans?
- Asian Carp in the Great Lakes? This Means War!
- The Problem with Football: How to Make It Safer
- Obesity in Kids: Three Lifestyle Changes that Help
- How to Build Your Own Bedbug Detector
- Toyota's Safety Problems: A Checkered History
- Obama and Republicans Jockey for (Bi)partisan Advantage
Top Stories on TIME.com
Quotes of the Day »
RSS