IRAN MAY SEEK COMPENSATION FOR WORLD WAR II DAMAGES

PanARMENIAN.Net
22.12.2009 15:20 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Iran’s president says he will soon write to the UN
Secretary-General asking for his country to be compensated for World
War II damages.

"We will seek compensation for World War II damages. I have assigned
a team to calculate the costs," Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said at a Friday
press conference in the Danish capital.

"I will write a letter to the UN Secretary-General [Ban Ki-moon]
asking for Iran to be compensated for the damages," he added, pointing
out that such a move was necessary to ensure that justice was served.

Ahmadinejad told the reporters the countries that won the Second
World War had inflicted a lot of damage on Iran by invading the
country and using its resources.

The president added that while the former Soviet Union, the United
States and Britain received compensation after the conflict, Iran had
been given nothing to make up for the suffering its people had endured.

"During this period, the Iranian people were subjected to a great
deal of pressure and the country suffered a great deal of damages
but Iran was not paid any compensation," Ahmadinejad explained.

At the start of World War II, Iran declared its neutrality, but the
country was soon invaded by both Britain and the Soviet Union on
August 26, 1941 in Operation Countenance.

Iran’s refusal to give into Allied demands and expel all German
nationals from the country was the excuse they needed to occupy the
country. Within months of the invasion Iran became known as "The
Bridge of Victory" to the Allies.

When invading the Soviet Union in 1941, the Allies urgently needed
to transport war materiel across Iran to the Soviet Union.

The effects of the war, however, were very catastrophic for Iran. Food
and other essential items were scarce and severe inflation imposed
great hardship on the lower and middle classes as the needs of foreign
troops were prioritized.

"Not only was Iran deprived of any compensation for World War II,
but 10 years later, the Americans even went as far as arranging a coup
to reverse a popular uprising that had led to the nationalization of
oil," said Ahmadinejad.

In 1953, Washington orchestrated a coup against the popular and
democratically-elected Iranian prime minister of the time, Mohammad
Mosaddeq, whose efforts led to the nationalization of the country’s
oil industry.

Almost half a century later, former US Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright acknowledged the pivotal role that the US played in the coup,
coming closer than any other American diplomat to apologizing for
the intervention.

"The Eisenhower administration believed its actions were justified
for strategic reasons… But the coup was clearly a setback for
Iran’s political development. And it is easy to see now why many
Iranians continue to resent this intervention by America," she said
in March 2000.

Ahmadinejad, who had traveled to Copenhagen to take part in the Climate
Change Summit, returned to Iran on Saturday morning, PRESS TV reported.