[wz1000]

Why should a concession made by a monarch pre-constitutional revolution be expected to be upheld by a democratically elected leader operating after significant changes in the form and nature of government?

I have noticed all such principled defenses of "property rights" and "capitalism" are built upon a very specific and convenient view of what exactly counts as "legitimate property". Was the oil even the Shah's to give away in the first place?

[totalZero]

Why should a treaty signed by Obama be expected to be upheld by Trump?

Continuity of governance, honoring good-faith agreements, maintaining confidence of foreign investors...the list goes on.

Are you suggesting that all governmental responsibilities ought to be thrown out the window every time power changes hands? This is not a realistic perspective in most of the third world, where power changes hands frequently and change of government is often established via change of regime.

Ultimately Iran made a killing on the oil business, and that would never have happened without petroleum concessions. In the parlance of the oil business, a "concession" is a deal where the host government allows oil rights in return for profit share, ownership, or some other financial benefit. It is an asymmetrical but symbiotic contract, and the term doesn't carry the same pejorative connotation as it would in standard parlance.

Not to mention that the monarch in question was also the one who ratified the Persian Constitution of 1906.

[Imnimo]

I think that people would question whether the agreement was in fact good-faith. The British company had agreed to various obligations to improve the working conditions of Iranian workers, train more Iranians to work in administrative roles, and generally contribute to the development of infrastructure in the country. It had done none of those things in the decades since signing the deal.

Under that light, it's not really a case of buyer's remorse, where Iran signed a fair deal, and unjustly decided to renege on it. It's a case of the British company acting exploitatively, violating their agreement, refusing to renegotiate, and the Iranians declaring the agreement void as a result.

[jessaustin]

Why should a treaty signed by Obama be expected to be upheld by Trump?

I would have sworn there was such a treaty... I think the Europeans still abide by it? Do you agree with Trump's rejection of that treaty?

[anigbrowl]

Wait a moment, you're equating a change of administration (Obama - Trump or any preceding transfer of power in the US) with a change of governance, as in a structural change in the system of governance (which is explicitly spelled out in the comment you were replying to).

It's particularly odd that you make this argument given Trump's unilateral withdrawal from the P5+1 agreement as well as many other bi- and multilateral arrangements. If we're just going to rely on realpolitik, why not accept that the oil companies also made bank out of Iran for a while and hey, nothing lasts forever?