Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran
The Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran or Anglo-Soviet invasion of Persia was the joint invasion of the neutral Imperial State of Iran by the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union in August 1941. The two powers announced that they would stay until six months after the end of the war with their enemy Nazi Germany (World War II), which turned out to be 2 March 1946. On that date the British began to withdraw, but the Soviet Union delayed until May, citing "threats to Soviet security".
| Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran | |||||||||
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| Part of the Mediterranean and Middle East theatre of World War II | |||||||||
Soviet tankmen of the 6th Tank Division driving through Tabriz on their T-26, 28 August 1941 | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
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Soviet Union United Kingdom | Iran | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Dmitry Kozlov Sergei Trofimenko Edward Quinan William Slim |
Reza Shah Ali Mansur Mohammad Ali Foroughi Gholamali Bayandor † Ahmad Nakhjavan M. Shahbakhti | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
Soviet Union:
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| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
Soviet Union:
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Civilian casualties: ~200 Iranian civilians killed | |||||||||
The invasion, code name Operation Countenance, was largely unopposed by the numerically and technologically outmatched Iranian forces. The multi-pronged coordinated invasion took place along Iran's borders with the Kingdom of Iraq, Azerbaijan SSR, and Turkmen SSR, with fighting beginning on 25 August and ending on 31 August when the Iranian government formally agreed to surrender, having already agreed to a ceasefire on 30 August.
The invasion took place two months after the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union and the Soviet Union's subsequent alliance with the United Kingdom. The attack also took place less than two months after Allied victories over pro-Axis forces in neighbouring Iraq and French Syria and Lebanon.
The invasion's strategic purpose was to ensure the safety of Allied supply lines to the USSR (see the Persian Corridor), secure Iranian oil fields, limit German influence in Iran (Reza Shah had leveraged Germany to offset the British and Soviet spheres of influence on Iran) and preempt a possible Axis advance from Turkey through Iran toward the Baku oil fields or British India. Following the invasion, on 16 September 1941 Reza Shah abdicated and went into exile, being replaced by his young son Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Iran would remain under Allied occupation until 1946.