15 DEC--This Day in US Military History

MSG Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 15 Dec 2014 09:28:20 -0500

1946 – U.S.-backed Iranian troops evict the leadership of the breakaway Republic of Mahabad, a short-lived self-governing Kurdish state in present-day Iran, putting an end to the Iran crisis of 1946.

The Iran crisis of 1946, also known as the Iran-Azerbaijan Crisis, followed the end of World War II and stemmed from the Soviet Union's refusal to relinquish occupied Iranian territory, despite repeated assurances. In 1941 Iran had been jointly invaded and occupied by the Allied powers of the Soviet Red Army in the north and by the British in the center and south. Iran was used by the Americans and the British as a transportation route to provide vital supplies to the Soviet Union's war efforts. As of August 1941, the United States was a neutral nation and had not entered as a belligerent in World War II. Therefore, the bloc known as 'The Allies' were principally (with Poland and France occupied by Germany in 1939 and 1940, respectively) the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union, recently forming their alliance after the German invasion of territories of the Western Soviet Union in June 1941.
In the aftermath of the occupation of Iran, those Allied forces agreed to withdraw from Iran within six months after the cessation of hostilities. However, when this deadline came in early 1946, the Soviets, under Joseph Stalin, remained in Iran and local pro-Soviet Iranians proclaimed a separatist People's Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Mahabad. In late 1945, in addition to the People's Republic of Azerbaijan, the Republic of Mahabad also came into existence. Soon, the alliance of the Kurdish and People's Azerbaijani forces, supported in arms and training by the Soviet Union, engaged in fighting with Iranian forces, resulting in a total of 2,000 casualties. Negotiation by Iranian premier Ahmad Qavam and diplomatic pressure on the Soviets by the United States eventually led to Soviet withdrawal. The crisis is seen as one of the early conflicts in the growing Cold War at the time.

http://thisdayinusmilhist.wordpress.com/2014/12/15/december-15/

December 15

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Response by LTC Stephen F. made May 31 at 2015 7:41 PM

LTC Stephen F. — Sun, 31 May 2015 19:41:55 -0400

MSG Private RallyPoint Member, in light of the successes of the Kurdish Peshmerga the event you cited in 1946 seems sad. Yes the Kurds threatened Iranian ambitions following WWII. It is only speculation; but, I wonder how Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi's administration might have fared if we had not backed Iran from 1946 onward. Since the Iranian Revolution of 1979 seemed in large part focused on US links to Shah Pahlavi.