Moscow distances itself from the Anzali landing

An Iranian memorandum offered negotiations for treaties based on equality. Tehran sought to turn Russia’s revolutionary declarations into a different diplomatic relationship.

Article 7 of the Brest-Litovsk peace treaty committed the parties to respect Iran’s political and economic independence and territorial integrity. Iran was affected without being a signatory.

Karakhan’s note announced the Soviet rejection of tsarist privileges in Iran. It became a reference point for the later friendship treaty.

Iran’s government signed an agreement for British advisers, military assistance and finance. Opposition in Iran and abroad, including Soviet Russia, challenged its implications for independence.

Soviet forces landed at Anzali to seize a White Russian fleet sheltered there. Their intervention displaced British forces and opened a new phase in the Iranian Jangali movement.

The Bolshevik Politburo approved material assistance for Kuchik Khan’s movement. Support for local revolution coexisted uneasily with Soviet diplomatic assurances to Iran.

Kuchik Khan proclaimed a Soviet Socialist Republic of Iran in Rasht. The alliance linked Iranian resistance to foreign domination with Soviet-backed revolution, while differences persisted.

The first communist congress in Iran opened in Anzali, meeting through 25 June. Delegates debated national liberation and social revolution amid Soviet involvement in Gilan.

The Congress of the Peoples of the East opened in Baku. Iranian participation connected local struggles with a Comintern campaign against imperial rule.

A coup brought Reza Khan and Seyyed Zia to power. The Persian Cossack force’s Russian institutional origins formed part of the background to Iran’s changing state and foreign relations.