There was no neighboring country around Iran that was directly involved in the war that Iran wants to fight them. What did you expect Iran to do? stand alone with no logistics and no support from Germany who had very weak presence in the region around us and fight with Soviet Russia and Great Britain at the same time? Do you think Iran could've fought with the GB and the Soviet Russia for more than a week with no support? surely you're joking.
I do agree that Iran can't share the victory, because Iran never actively got involved in the war, but unlike what Americans claim, it was mostly the natural resources of countries like Iran that supplied the Allied to win the war, not the natural resources of the USA.
Oh, please, do not get angry. I am not an Iran hater, as you might know. But we have to be truthful with history. Getting emotional will not make us understand history at all. You see, Japan also was not near Germany at the time, but they still kept on fighting longer than Germans did. It is not about neighbors at all. It is about a country's decision to stand up. The truth is Iran had given up fighting for its integrity long ago and not only in WWII. After Imperial Russia defeated Iran and got a large portion of Iran, since that time, Iran never fought a successful war without losing territory or resources till Iran-Iraq war.
These are historical facts. Part of the reason for this was that at the time Iranian government had not invested in any kind of technology and science so their army largely depended on Russia and UK for supplies. Japan and to some extent China on the other hand had imported technology instead of supplies, paying hefty salaries to British, American, French and German engineers to work in those countries and teaching them to develop an industrial military complex. By the time WWII had started Japanese had the most advanced industry in the far east. Still not as good as Americans and British but still they were making their own planes and tanks. Iran did not have anything to fight with. Its army was small and already its officers were heavily influenced by Russia and UK. So it is understandable Iran did not have any choice but this does not mean they did not surrender. They did surrender unconditionally. And Iranian resources, food and oil not only supplied British troops in WWII but also in WWI as well, since Iranian crude was the only source of oil UK had at the time. Maybe if Iran had minimal level of technology and could fight back, the course of war would have been completely different. But that is just hypothetical.
You see, when in 1901, British forced Iranians to give up their oil and gas resources for 100 years to Anglo-Iranian oil company for an yearly payment of 16,000 British Sterling Pounds with the agreement extend-able for another 100 years on British demand, Iran had sort of lost part of its sovereignty. In 1914, Winston Churchill at the time an Admiralty convinced British Parliament that Iranian oil was very important to UK since British economy was switching from coal to oil and all modern amenities as well as war machines were running on oil rather than coal. He pushed a law which was later on signed by Queen which nationalized all Iranian hydrocarbon reserves and with this law, all Iranian oil and gas became British public property which Iranians had no share in it what so ever. At time Iranian government was so weak that it could not even lodge a diplomatic protest let alone, take back its resources. British continued to take away Iranian oil for free even after world war I and World war II, right until Mossadeq came and tried to nationalize Iranian oil again for a second time but this time to make it Iranian public asset. His success was only partial as Iran was under sanctions during his tenure as British embargoed Iran for nullifying the earlier agreement with Anglo-Iranian oil company.
Then operation Ajax comes in and a new agreement is signed with US, France and UK becoming new share holders in Iranian reserves with Iran getting 10% of the share of the oil revenue which helped Iran to develop some modern infrastructures, non-existent till then, under an Iranian program dubbed white revolution. This helped Iran to come to 20th century in 1960's and started to become modern and advanced. Then Iranian revolution happens and the new Iranian government in an undiplomatic way kicks out all foreign companies including oil interests out of Iran. Then the Iraq attacks begin in addition to sanctions, which cause Iranian oil production to go down and Iran to lose some one trillion dollars in direct and indirect costs of war. After the war oil prices plummet to all time lows, since US had won cold war and they were in a position to dictate new economic order of the world. At its lowest point in mid-1990's a barrel of oil was going for around 7 dollars barely making any profits after taking out the cost of extraction and exploration. It was at this time that SUV's became popular in US.
Iran needing money for reconstruction after the war compensated by printing even more money than during the war starting an inflation which continues till today. In 2000's due to some luck or some stupid decision by US government, geopolitical scene changed. Oil prices started to go up and Iran started to get the benefit of the investments they had in education and healthcare during 1980's and 1990's as Iranian population was more healthy and more educated. This allowed Iran to develop its own science and technology base as well as make new investments in key industries and infrastructure. Infact you can say, it was only recently that Iran became a player in realpolitik and science and technology. Back in WWII, things were very different, but we can not just deny and say Iran did not surrender unconditionally without any fighting, despite all these facts. History can not be changed. But it can be learnt with a critical eye so that it does not repeat itself.
Cheers!
