Versailles Peace Conference and Iranian Irredentist Claims: The Case of Trans-Araxes Regions

By finishing World War I, and on the eve of Versailles peace conference, some countries, such as Iran which despite their formal declaration of neutrality, suffered a compulsory occupation by both the Ententes and the Central Powers, were hopeful to claim their own litigations and demands in this conference. Prince Nosrat-o Dowleh-ye Firouz, an Iranian prominent political figure of that time who was in charge of Iran’s office of foreign affairs, illustrates the Iranian irredentist claims and demands comprehensively as a dispatch note in this conference. Among those, there were in particular some articles called for a legal restoration of trans-Araxes Iranian lands which Qajar dynasty at the beginning of 19th century had lost to Russia. However, Lord Curzon, the English foreign secretary of that time did not agree with this policy. This paper aims to give a brief survey of Iran’s foreign policy during this historical situation and present its results.