Epilogue

Summary

In February 1973, representatives from the consortium gathered in the ski resort town of St. Moritz, Switzerland. They were met by Iranian negotiators, led by the shah, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, who was fresh off the slopes. Since 1954, the major oil companies had exercised control over Iran’s oil industry. Now, their era had come to an end. At the height of his power, a key US ally and a monarch in absolute control over his government, the shah could afford to make demands. Even a personal letter from President Richard M. Nixon, the shah’s ally in Washington, imploring him to avoid “any unilateral action” that might upset the regional status quo was not enough to deter him.¹ He got what he wanted. The consortium announced the termination of the 1954 agreement and agreed to a new contract, one that identified the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) as the “owners and operators of assets and activities in the oil concession area.” The shah hailed it as a triumph. “Seventy-two years of foreign control,” he declared, “was ended.”²