Detailing Underdevelopment in Iran : A Comprehensive 2022 Review

Iran is a historically rich country that has been through many conflicts with the western world. Although we would not consider it colonization, Iran was exploited by the British East India Company, a trade company run by the British Empire which went around the world and exploited many resource-rich countries for their spices, textiles, and any other products that they could get their hands on. They did this through coercive mechanisms that seemed natural due to the seemingly exclusive agreement between the British Empire and the Iranian Government (Behravesh, 2010). In reality, the British Empire employed military, economic, and political coercion tactics that basically forced the Iranian Government to give up a large majority of its oil reserves to the British (Behravesh, 2010). This frustrated the local merchants of Iran whose prices were now undercut by the firm grasp that the British Empire had over their tobacco. Because a monopoly on tobacco in Iran was not enough for the British, they started the Anglo-Persian Oil Company in 1908. This company was used to ensure exclusive rights to the oil from Iran to the British Empire. This exploitation took its toll on the economy of Iran and inspired a revolution outside of the British Embassy in Tehran, in 1906