During the Iranian Crisis (1946), which two Western powers had major influence over Iranian oil and did not want Soviet interference?

• A. United States and France
• B. United Kingdom and Germany
• C. United States and Soviet Union
• D. United States and United Kingdom

Answer: (D)

This focuses on who controlled Iran’s oil and sought to keep the Soviet Union from expanding its influence after World War II. By this time the oil industry in Iran was largely shaped by the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, a British-led arrangement, with the United States backing Britain to safeguard oil supplies and curb Soviet ambitions. When Soviet troops still occupied parts of Iran, Britain and the United States pressed for withdrawal and Iranian sovereignty, aiming to prevent Soviet interference while preserving Western access to oil. That combination points to the United States and the United Kingdom as the two Western powers described. The other options don’t fit because they either pair the U.S. with a country that didn’t dominate Iranian oil, or they include the Soviet Union, which is precisely the influence the question says they did not want to see.