Iran and the Great War: Neutrality and Britain’s Sanctions

Document Type : Research Article

Author

Professor, Department of History and Civilization of Islamic Nations, Faculty of Theology and Islamic Studies, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

Abstract
In the course of the Great War, Britain besides military operations, entered economic warfare. The latter, as an independent variable, affected the neutral country of Iran which had already become a scene for cofrontation of the rival powers. This work examines both the expansion of the economic war to Iran (independent variable) and and its consequences (dependent variable). The findings show that the imposition of economic war on Iran was a violation of the Hague Convention which both countries had approved in 1907. Moreover, the warfare, though put an end to Irano-German trade relations, had originally no commercial motives. The economic war resulted in the registration of a number of Iranian traders in the Britain’s blacklist and their sanctions by London. To get their names out of the blacklist, the merchants had to deposit a financial guarantee and submission to British impositions as well. Finally, the great powers’ calculations, hindered Tehran's freedom in both adopting a proper foreign policy and neutrality.

Keywords

Subjects

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  • Receive Date 13 March 2026
  • Revise Date 02 July 2026
  • Accept Date 01 August 2026