The new stage of the Franco-Iranian relations at the beginning of the xıx century

Abstract

The beginning of the XIX century is characterised by emergence and development of Iran’s relations with European countries in terms of mutual political and diplomatic interests. This co-untry, located on a favorable administrative and strategic-geographical position of the Middle East, was an important part of the colonial policies of Britain and France, who actively fought for hege-mony in Europe and to gain new spheres of authority. These two countries, attaching great impor-tance to the Indian issue in their foreign policy, were interested in establishing diplomatic relations with Iran, which plays the role of a “door” on the way to India. Iran, which at that time was in war situation with Russia, was also interested in political relations with Britain and France thinking to get an ally against Russia. The attitude to Iran has changed depending on the international situation, but the nature of these relations has not changed. The Iranian government, which firstly signed an agreement with England, soon approached France, due to the reason for England’s failure to follow up on its obligations under the agreement. Ambassadors exchanged between Iran and France and the Treaty of Finckenstein was signed in 1807, and diplomatic relations between the two countries gained the juridical status. But soon after the signing of the French-Russian Treaty of Tilsit in 1807, Franco-Iranian relations began to cool down, and official relations were interrupted in 1811. Ne-vertheless, the French specialists who came to Iran played a large role in restoring the Iranian army in the European mode.