The notes exchanged by Ahmad Qavam and Soviet ambassador Ivan Sadchikov on 4 April 1946 linked negotiations over Soviet withdrawal with a proposed joint oil company. The proposal still required parliamentary ratification. Its importance for Kurdish history lies in the changing balance of power around the Republic of Mahabad.

Black-and-white portrait of Mustafa Barzani seated in a military uniform with shoulder boards and a belt
Mustafa Barzani in 1946, during the Mahabad Republic period. The archival portrait provides context for the Kurdish aftermath of the crisis. Mahabad photographer · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain.

Occupation, sovereignty and negotiations

Britain and the Soviet Union invaded Iran in August 1941. Bruce Kuniholm’s study describes the weakened central state, regional political movements and Soviet influence in the north. By the agreed withdrawal deadline of 2 March 1946, Soviet forces remained after British and American troops had left. Iran brought the dispute before the United Nations, while Qavam pursued negotiations with Moscow. [1] Oil, troop withdrawal, Iranian sovereignty and the future of regional administrations became interconnected diplomatic questions.

What the April notes actually proposed

Ambassador Wallace Murray’s 9 April telegram reproduces translated notes dated 4 April. The company would operate for 50 years, with shares changing after the first 25 years as shown below. Profits would follow ownership; Iran would supply the oil-bearing territory and the USSR equipment and expenditures. Iranian forces would protect installations. A later company agreement was to go before the newly elected Majlis for ratification. [2] The notes therefore describe a proposed arrangement with further steps still required.

Proposed ownership in the April 1946 notes [2]
Operating periodIranUSSR
Years 1–2549%51%
Years 26–5050%50%

Withdrawal and what officials could verify

The Soviet note specified evacuation within one and a half months from 24 March. [2] A report sent to the UN on 6 May confirmed evacuation from Khorasan, Gorgan, Mazandaran and Gilan. It described withdrawal from Azerbaijan as reported but not yet directly verified by Iranian officials, who could not exercise effective authority there. [3] This distinction matters: a diplomatic timetable, reports of movement and official verification were separate stages. Mahabad’s collapse followed later in the year.

Mahabad’s autonomy and its defeat

Borhanedin Yassin places the republic’s proclamation on 22 January 1946 within an autonomy framework that retained Iran’s territorial integrity. He explains its fall through Soviet withdrawal, renewed Iranian state power and weakening tribal support. His chronology dates Iranian entry into Mahabad to 17 December 1946. Qazi Muhammad, Sadri Qazi and Hussein Saifi Qazi were executed on 31 March 1947. [4] The photographed Mustafa Barzani followed another course: Yassin records his crossing into Soviet Azerbaijan with about 500 armed men on 17 June 1947. [4] These were distinct outcomes of the republic’s defeat.

The Majlis rejection in October 1947

George Allen’s telegram of 23 October reports that the Majlis had rejected the arrangement the previous evening, by 102 to 2. It names Reza Shaffaq’s proposal and records Qavam’s effort to avoid an immediate vote that would close further negotiations. Allen explains the two non-affirmative ballots as one blank and one abstention. [5] Mossadegh’s earlier role belonged to the 1944 restrictions on oil negotiations, a different parliamentary episode. [1] The oil company was never established under these terms; the rejection came after Mahabad’s fall and the executions.

Sources and further reading

  1. Bruce R. Kuniholm, “Azarbaijan V: History from 1941 to 1947”, Encyclopaedia Iranica, 1988, updated 2016; occupation, oil negotiations and withdrawal.
  2. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1946, volume VII, document 306: Murray to the Secretary of State, 9 April 1946; translated 4 April notes.
  3. FRUS, 1946, volume VII, document 334: Stettinius to the Secretary of State, 6 May 1946; Iranian withdrawal report to the UN.
  4. Borhanedin A. Yassin, Vision or Reality? The Kurds in the Policy of the Great Powers, 1941–1947, Lund University Press, 1995, printed pp. 125–126, 145–149, 166 and 168.
  5. FRUS, 1947, volume V, document 685: Allen to the Secretary of State, 23 October 1947, noon; Majlis vote and debate.
  6. Mustafa Barzani in 1946, photograph attributed to a Mahabad photographer; Wikimedia Commons, public-domain file.