Author Description

In 1962 Foreign Office historian Rohan Butler wrote a report on British Policy in the Relinquishment of Abadan in 1951. Published now for the first time, it is a forensic and highly critical account of how the government was forced to accept the loss of its single largest overseas investment, the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company’s refinery at Abadan, following the nationalisation of Iran’s oil industry. The episode led to a considerable loss of British prestige and exposed weaknesses both in Middle Eastern policy and in crisis management. The events of the ensuing five years, including the fall of Iranian leader Dr Mossadegh in 1953 and the Suez crisis of 1956, suggest that not all the lessons of Abadan were well learned. Even today, the report’s penetrating analysis and recommendations for improved decision-making and policy implementation remain relevant. It is accompanied by essays from contemporary historians placing the report within the wider context of UK-Iranian relations and British foreign policy.