[wesselbindt]

Ah yeah for sure. It was largely controlled by the Anglo-Persian Oil company, which was a private company. Even worse for the Iranians, it was mostly foreign owned. The second example I have of a private individual owning it is of course the Shah.

Also, taking back your natural resources from former colonizers is theft as much as me getting my stolen bike back is.

[lazide]

Anglo-Persian was majority owned and controlled by the British gov’t at the time, as per the link I posted (and the BBC).

“Shortly before World War I, Anglo-Persian managed to find a new backer - and good customer.

After lengthy negotiations, the oilmen promised Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty, secure supplies of oil.

In exchange the British government injected £2m of new capital into the company, acquired a controlling interest and became de-facto the hidden power behind the oil company.”

Anglo-Persian was no more a private company at the time than In-Q-Tel [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/In-Q-Tel].

So your ‘stealing back my bicycle’ analogy is even more apt than you’re giving it credit for, IMO.