Iranian famine of 1942–1943

TheIranian famine of 1942–1943refers to a period ofstarvationthat took place inIran, which was under the rule of thePahlavi dynasty. Iran at the time wasoccupiedby theUnited KingdomandSoviet Uniondespite being a neutral country in theSecond World War.
During the occupation, both the British and the Soviets tried to strengthen their influence in their respective zones. The allies took control over the Iranian rail network and contracted half of Iran's publicly- and privately-owned trucks, thus occupying 75 percent of the country's food distribution capacity in the midst of the 1941 harvest. The remaining transportation capacities were quickly rendered unusable because of a restriction of the import of spare parts.That disrupted internal trade and social services and increased the cost of living by more than 700%.After a bad harvest in 1942, famine struck the British-occupied south.The British administration promised to supply the needed amount of grain, but failed to do so, and when the Iranian government turned to the United States for help, promised aid never substantiated even after months-long negotiations.The U.S. diplomatLouis G. Dreyfusinitially reported to the US government that the food situation was serious, but he soon uttered doubts about any wheat shortage and recommended that the U.S. should support "the British stand and insist on Iran helping itself before relying on Allied imports".
The British government blamed the situation on hoarding, inefficient distribution and an inadequate transport system, but Washington suspected that the British had deliberately manipulated the food supply to further their own political objectives.Meanwhile, the Soviets banned food shipments from the north, claimed that they needed the resources for the people and soldiers fighting the Germans, and blamed British mismanagement for the famine since no similar conditions existed in the Soviet-held areas. However, officials who visited Iran before the invasion noted that Iranians were already in near-starvation nationwide.
In April 1941, the American consul had traveled in eastern, central and southern Iran and noted the conditions:
In August 1941, on the eve of the Allied invasion, the average wage was 8 rials per day:
However, letters and diplomatic correspondence at the time presented all sides being at fault. This included the role of corrupt distributors.
The Iranian public accused the Allies oflootingthe country and pushing Iran into inflation and starvation.In December 1942, demonstrations against the scarcity of food became a daily occurrence inTehranand eventually led toriots.
After nearly two weeks, Prime MinisterAhmad Qavamordered the police to quell the protests with deadly force, resulting in a number of deaths and injuries on both sides.During the final months of 1942 and in 1943, the streets ofKermanshahwere full of semi-naked and hungry people with fifteen deaths attributed to hunger and poverty occurring every day. In February 1943,typhusbroke out in the city and the hospital was closed down because of widespread infection among doctors and staff.Only in 1943, the Soviets released 25,000 tons of grain to ameliorate the situation.
The impact of World War II on Iran is acknowledged by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. In the entry in the Holocaust Encyclopedia on "Iran During World War II," the following is stated:
Very few academic sources discuss famine in Iran during World War II. For example, a 1968 demographic study by Julian Bharier in the journalPopulation Studiesalludes to the war imposing additional hardships on Iranians, observing that "1946 is the first year after World War II when Iran began to find its feet again after the Allied occupation," but does not mention a famine or a large number of deaths. To the contrary, Bharier cites figures from Iran'sCivil Registration Office(C.R.O.) postulating a 2% annual population growth rate during the years 1942-1945, which is higher than the average 1.5% growth rate estimated by demographer Mehdi Amani for the entire period 1926-1945.Cormac Ó Grádaincluded Iran in a 2019 analysis of World War II-era famines, briefly commenting that "the death toll, though unknown, was probably modest" and citing Bharier as a reference.
Mohammad Gholi Majdis the only author to have written a book about the famine.In theJournal of Iranian Islamic Period History, Majd concluded that 3-4 million Iranians—a quarter of the population—died of starvation and disease during the Allied occupation in World War II, citing U.S. State Department population figures for 1941 (15 million) and 1944 (10-12 million).