Chapter 223 Middle East

"Welcome to Germany, Your Majesty, Your Highness the Crown Prince." The Crown Prince's name is Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. King Reza Khan was very fond of his son, who was born in his old age. As early as 1925, the 6-year-old Pahlavi was appointed as the Crown Prince and sent to Britain, the United States and other countries to receive Western education.

"Thank you, Your Highness Yannick, for meeting us in your busy schedule."

After the two sides exchanged greetings and sat down, King Reza Khan spoke. "We came here this time, first, to buy a batch of weapons and equipment; second, to ask His Highness Yannick what arrangements he has for the Middle East."

"Weapons are easy to talk about. We will sell whatever your country wants. As for the Middle East, I will definitely take care of it. After all, this is my grandfather's long-cherished wish."

From the late 19th century to the early 20th century, Germany tried to get involved in the Middle East by strengthening its relations with the Ottoman Empire of Turkey (for example, it planned the "3B Railway" from Berlin-Constantinople-Baghdad, and funded Turkey to build the narrow-gauge railway "Hejaz Railway" in the Hejaz region on the west side of the Arabian Peninsula, etc.), but with the defeat of Germany and Turkey in the First World War, the defeat of the Arab Revolt, etc., both German and Turkish forces withdrew from the Arabian Peninsula.

"And the friend of my enemy is my enemy." The enemy he said is of course the United States, and his friend is Saudi Arabia.

Since 1928, starting from the Kirkuk region in northern Iraq, the Gulf Arab countries have successively discovered astonishing reserves of oil. The oil economy has changed their social and economic structure and achieved sudden wealth. In the early 1930s, the American "Three Standards" oil company signed an agreement with the Saudi government. Saudi Arabia sold oil field exploitation lease rights to American oil giants. The income from oil exploitation not only changed Saudi Arabia's social and economic structure, but also allowed Saudi Arabia to form a regional cooperation alliance with the United States. In the face of oil interests, Saudi Arabia and the United States have established a special friendly relationship since the early 1930s. The influence of the United States in Saudi Arabia has thus surpassed that of Britain.

In the original time and space, Saudi Arabia was under the full protection of the United States and Britain in World War II, far away from the European battlefield, and basically could not smell the smoke of gunpowder. For most of World War II, Saudi Arabia remained neutral and maintained traditional friendly relations with the United States and Britain. Several sons of the founding king Ibn Saud also traveled to the United States. By 1945, with victory already decided, Saudi Arabia joined the Allied camp.

Previously, the German army did not cross the Suez Canal because it was afraid of the American power in the Middle East. Now that both sides have declared war, there is nothing to worry about. Just rush into the Middle East to drive all the Americans away and take over those oil-producing areas. "In a week at most, our African Corps will march into the Middle East. If His Majesty has the ambition to expand the territory, I will be happy to support it."

A gleam of brilliance flashed in King Reza Khan's eyes; any monarch with a little ambition is eager to expand the territory and go down in history.

However, at this time, Iran's neighboring countries include Iraq, India, Afghanistan, Turkey and several Soviet republics.

After the outbreak of World War II, Iraq accepted Britain's request to break off diplomatic relations with Germany, but did not declare war on Germany. With the rapid collapse of Britain and France in the Battle of France, the pro-German forces in Iraq's high-level gradually gained the upper hand, and Iraq began to contact the Germans privately. Not long ago, Gailani, who had a strong anti-British tendency, and the "Golden Square" officer group launched a coup to seize power, and then persecuted the pro-British faction in the original government, and Germany also recognized the regime.

Although India is a British colony, Britain has surrendered to Germany, and Iran is unlikely to attack India. Afghanistan and Turkey are neutral countries, and the Soviet Union's member states are not easy to provoke.

"Please let me know, Your Highness."

Yannick said easily. "Your country is adjacent to Azerbaijan, and Azerbaijan has the largest oil field in the Soviet Union. Probably next year, I would like to borrow your country to visit the Baku oil field."

King Reza Khan and his son looked at each other. They certainly guessed what Yannick meant by "a visit". If they really borrowed it, wouldn't it be equivalent to declaring war on the Soviet Union?

However, looking at the performance of the Soviet Union in the Soviet-Finnish War, it was completely a scumbag, and it was simply a world apart from the explosive combat power of Germany.

After thinking for a while, King Reza Khan nodded. "No problem."

"Thank you." After discussing some details, Yannick mentioned another thing. "Your Majesty also knows that there are many Jews in our country. I plan to build a country for them in the Middle East and let all the Jews move there." Of course, this matter was not discussed with him, but just told casually.

In later generations, Israel and Iran have been fighting for decades. I am afraid that few people would have thought that in history, the Persians were once the benefactors of the Jews.

In 586 BC, Nebuchadnezzar II, the king of Babylon in the Mesopotamian region, invaded the Kingdom of Judah and ordered a large number of Jews to be taken to Babylon as slaves. This was the first miserable exile in Jewish history, which was called the Babylonian captivity in history books. Sixty years later, Cyrus the Great of Persia conquered Babylon. The Jews were worried about becoming slaves of the Persians again, but Cyrus the Great announced that all Jewish slaves had regained their freedom!

Cyrus the Great also allowed the Jews to return to their hometown of Jerusalem, and returned more than 5,000 holy objects looted from the Jews by Babylon to the Jews, and provided funds to help the Jews rebuild the temple in Jerusalem that was burned by Babylon (the Second Temple in Jerusalem).

Not only in ancient times, but also in the original time and space, an Iranian Schindler appeared in World War II and saved more than 2,000 Jews.

His name is Sardar. After graduating from university, he became an Iranian diplomat and the head of the Iranian Consulate in France in 1941. In 1941, Germany occupied France and hunted down French Jews. Sardar was very sad and determined to rescue the Jews. During World War II, Germany had certain trade relations with Iran and believed that Iran was also an Aryan. Sardar used this relationship to issue passports to more than 2,000 Jews and fled Paris. The American Jewish group had repeatedly rewarded Sardar for his righteous act of rescuing Jews during World War II.

Until Iran changed its political situation in 1979, Iran, under the rule of the Pahlavi Dynasty, was a staunch ally of the United States. As Israel, which is also a staunch ally of the United States, has the same "big brother" as the Pahlavi Dynasty of Iran, and the relationship is naturally very good, which is called the "strategic alliance period". How good can it be?

When Israel was first established in 1948, Iran used it as a transit point to send Jews from Iraq to Israel. In 1965, King Pahlavi implemented relatively radical reforms, and the domestic situation was very unstable. Under such circumstances, the relationship between Iran and Israel became closer. Some people say that the two countries share the same suffering. After all, Israel is sandwiched in the Arab world and its life is not comfortable either.

After Israel became an enemy of Arab countries in the Middle East, oil imports became a problem. Iran stood up and said, "I will provide as much as you want to buy." Israel has the confidence to fight many high-intensity wars with Arab countries because of Iran's oil. Iran's weapons and equipment are not very advanced. It has imported a large number of advanced weapons from Israel. Iran imports about $500 million worth of weapons from Israel every year, and this is a figure from the 1970s.

As a result, Iran changed drastically in 1979. Not only did it become an enemy of the United States, but Israel was also "hated by Iran".

Now, when King Reza Khan heard that Yannick wanted to build a country for the Jews in the Middle East, he did not react much. "Oh, where does your highness plan to build it?"

"Their hometown, Jerusalem."