Chapter 983 – Oil Reserve Program

“Will it go so well?” Harold Wilson had a thoughtful look on his face when he heard that, then as if he remembered something, “Can we join France and get the United States to side with Britain.”

“That’s unlikely, Minister. There are many reasons why America chose Iran, Iran has feuded with Britain and the Soviet Union, America is far away and has a good reputation, and all sorts of other factors. And if we pull in France, France’s Middle East interests are almost non-existent, if Britain and France stand together, first of all, we exclude the war factor, the United States is nothing more than to support the opposition in both of our spheres of influence, Iran is naturally the most appropriate choice, and our choice of France to jointly respond to the situation is not necessarily effective.”

“France’s interests are mainly focused on Africa, while the priority sequence of our interests is clearly Asia, including the Far East and the Middle East. It is impossible to be close. Now let’s start with this memorandum, what France is asking for is parity with Britain and the U.S. Without mentioning the U.S., we actually disagree in our hearts.”

“If truth be told, within the framework of NATO Britain is an auxiliary and the real leader is really the United States. We occupy an interest in NATO, while the US has a greater interest. Without mentioning anything else, since France’s claim is one of parity, surely the NATO Commander-in-Chief can’t be reserved for the U.S. Does the Minister think Washington will agree?”

“I don’t think it would agree.” Harold Wilson followed the permanent undersecretary’s train of thought and shook his head and smiled bitterly, “France is still not skilled enough in diplomacy, and it won’t do to harden this kind of thing.”

“So it is true that France’s demand will not succeed, if we do not oppose it, the United States will certainly oppose it, and if the United States pressurizes Britain to oppose it along with the United States, we must oppose it after the Americans.”

Alan Wilson said a roundabout way of saying, “I’m sure this memorandum from General de Gaulle is not so simple in its purpose. There’s a lot more going on down the road. But for the moment, it’s not going to help much on Iran. We can, however, delay the problem until it overlaps with the French attitude, and I wonder what the current administration’s attitude is in the face of Iran’s move to take back state-owned enterprises?”

“It must show a tough stance.” Harold Wilson decisive, soon to be election, this time the Iranian issue may be the Conservative Party to do the work, in front of the Labor Party there is also only one choice, can not just let it go.

“We first talk to Iraq, Kuwait, and the emirates that can still exert influence now. Let Iran get a serious taste of British power this time.”

Five years ago, the Iranian oil crisis, the United Kingdom is actually not much of a way, the United States of America’s foreign debt has not been paid off, the development of Malaya has not been molded, although the sanctions up Iran is still within the ability to do so, but can not be contrasted.

“Alan, what are you trying to say.” Harold Wilson had sensed as if his own permanent undersecretary had some ideas.

“It needs to be supported by cabinet decisions, and synchronized with our plans for markets and energy bases. And the first step is to a good news, to pass a decision called the oil reserve program, which requires the minister and the prime minister to communicate.”

Alan Wilson held out the results of several days’ work, certainly not the manned spaceflight part.

“French oil reserves?” Harold Wilson looked at this one plan and couldn’t help but mutter.

The first country in the world to establish oil reserves was France. As early as the 1920s, France required oil operators to maintain sufficient oil reserves. France set up the “National Liquid Fuels Agency” to manage oil reserves. The French strategic oil reserves are jointly managed and financed by the State, specialized agencies and oil production operators.

France, as a world power at that time, did not control the oil production in hand, so it first established oil reserves. Unlike Britain, whose sphere of strength included the Middle East, it naturally did not need to establish large-scale oil reserves.

Most of the countries in the world built up their national oil reserves only in the seventies when the world oil crisis hit.

While the Foreign Secretary was looking at the oil reserve program, Alan Wilson explained, “The last Iranian crisis, Britain was still recovering, and although it was not damaged by its influence in the Middle East, it could not give the Arabs much of a stake. This time it’s completely different, the Malayan industrial base has taken shape, and whatever the pro-British Arab countries need, we can provide.”

“To build up a reserve of oil for one hundred and eighty days for the use of the whole of Britain? Isn’t that a bit much.” Harold Wilson saw the crux of the matter and was clearly surprised by the figure.

“Minister, this will minimize BP’s losses and have enough share to pull in pro-British countries.” Alan Wilson crossed his fingers, “It would be great if it could drive other European countries. Most of all, it should do something to the government’s support.”

The last words are Alan Wilson nonsense, Britain now two-party support for a very long time does not move, don’t know also think it is the two-party supporters of the United States in the latter part of the world, you are in favor of no matter how good I am against it.

But the reality is that the United Kingdom does have a large group of voters, the Labor Party in power for such a long time there is slack.

“It does need the support of the prime minister to succeed.” When it comes to support, Harold Wilson is not sleepy. A cabinet minister and a shadow cabinet minister are not the same thing.

“Wise decision, my minister. We use the oil reserve program, and the upcoming negotiations with Iraq and Kuwait as leverage. It should be possible to avoid losses due to a hard-line approach. This is a time to test the government’s ability.”

Alan Wilson is not too early to sing the praises of Harold Wilson and Prime Minister Adderley, straight now.

Sanctions on Iran can be done in a day, but as long as they last longer than a year, they will be able to coincide with France’s substantial withdrawal from NATO, and things are universally connected, that’s what Lenin said.

Getting in front of a country with an electoral system is a risky business, you either win big or lose big. While a few key figures in the Labor Party knew that Labor was going to dissolve Parliament for an early general election, it was limited to a few of their ministers as well as the Prime Minister.

Even Aidan of the Conservative Party didn’t know, let alone the rest of the country, and the House of Commons in London turned into a vegetable market all of a sudden when Prime Minister Aidley suddenly showed a tough attitude and wanted to sanction Iran’s mouth appeared and took out a plan for the United Kingdom to build up enough oil reserves to last for one hundred and eighty days.

It caught the Conservative Party completely off guard, while Tory No. 1 and No. 2 figures Aidan and Macmillan were silent, smelling a hint of something unusual in it.

“Is Adderley going to call an early general election?” This was the question that came to Aidan and Macmillan’s minds coincidentally.

Through the bbc broadcast, the entire British public is also aware of Iran’s unfriendly moves against the UK.

“We support the Prime Minister’s decision and all patriots, as a whole, cannot tolerate this insult to Britain.” The Conservative Party has always appeared as patriots, and after a brief controversy, the leader of the Conservative Party, Aidan, immediately hammered home his position in the House of Commons, “The Persian Gulf is the energy center of the world, which is closely related to the prosperity of Britain. It belongs to the consensus issue of all British citizens, and we all support the Prime Minister’s response on this Iranian oil crisis.”

Aidan’s statement brought a long-lasting applause from the House of Commons, a united Parliament, a united Britain. The Conservative Party leader’s single-mindedness for the country and full support for the current government then spread across the country.

With bipartisan consensus politics, the British oil reserve plan was passed in the House of Commons, and in doing so, Britain took the attitude that it was going to have a protracted war with Iran.

“Isn’t this just one more card out of nowhere?” Alan Wilson, holding a telegram from home, gushed at Dixon, “When we talk to Iraq and Kuwait and them in two days’ time, we’ll have even more wiggle room.”

The hegemony of British public opinion is also excelling at influencing, what with the blame being all on Iran and the Iranian oil industry being hit hard as a result.

In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Dulles arrives at the White House and meets incumbent President Eisenhower not long after, with Dulles holding two telegrams in his hands, a two-point-zero version of the Iranian oil crisis and a memo from France proposing a reorganization of NATO to ask for more power.

“We still have to support Iran, Mr. President. Iran and Israel, are the keys to America’s penetration of the Middle East. Rationally we would prefer the Arabs, of course. But we can’t abandon Israel, which is, after all, alone, and that requires other Middle Eastern powers to hold the Arabs’ attention. There is no better choice than Iran.”

Dulles had a difficult look on his face, “We certainly don’t want to be unhappy with Britain, but Iran building up American influence is very important to American interests in the Middle East.”

By not being able to give up Israel, the US is doomed to stand against the vast majority of Arab states. Even if there are a few pro-American countries in the Arab states, they dare not explicitly side with the United States. The only Middle Eastern power that still has influence is Iran.

“Try to be as euphemistic as possible in the tone of your rejection of British solidarity.” President Eisenhower mused, “In terms of economic aid to Iran, don’t let the United States take a direct stance, but we agree with the move to support the latter powers.”

“I understand.” Dulles nodded and whirled away from the White House to start working on the matter, as for the memorandum from France offering to reorganize NATO, he gave it a miss.

Before Britain and the Gulf States hosted the meeting, the International Monetary Fund, over Britain’s objections, provided Iran with sixty million dollars in economic aid, and the news spread around the world, the whole of Britain was full of consternation, and could not make heads or tails of the move.

“Is this my Suez Canal war?” Allen Wilson torched the telegrams forwarded from London, but it was better than the real Suez Canal War.

At this point in time when the International Monetary Fund is making these kinds of decisions, there is no doubt that the United States is taking a stand, as this is an organization where the U.S. has a veto.