Michael Pye

Thesis Title: 'A Solid Dose of Mutual Suspicion: Soviet-Iranian Relations, 1946 - 1979.'
Supervisor: Professor Ali Ansari

I am privileged to be the recipient of the Mahmoud Khayami Scholarship for doctoral research at the Institute for Iranian Studies in the School of History. My work centres on a crucial but often overlooked aspect of Iran's 20th century history: that of the relationship with the Soviet Union. Despite the profound ideological divergence between Pahlavi Iran and the U.S.S.R., economic and political engagement between the two sides was both extensive and, given their geographical contiguity, unavoidable. Yet the Shah and his government also leveraged that relationship, with considerable skill, to strengthen and deepen American involvement in Iran; a success, of course, that came with a great price.

 

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