Iranian famine of 1942–1943
The Iranian famine of 1942–1943 refers to a period of major starvation that took place in Iran, which was under the rule of the Pahlavi dynasty. Iran at the time was occupied by the United Kingdom and Soviet Union despite being a neutral country in the Second World War.

During the occupation, both the British and the Soviets tried to strengthen their influence in their respective zones. The allies took control over the Iranian rail network and contracted half of Iran's publicly- and privately-owned trucks, thus occupying 75 percent of the country's food distribution capacity in the midst of the 1941 harvest. The remaining transportation capacities were quickly rendered unusable because of a restriction of the import of spare parts. That disrupted internal trade and social services and increased the cost of living by more than 700%. After a bad harvest in 1942, famine struck the British-occupied south. The British administration promised to supply the needed amount of grain, but failed to do so, and when the Iranian government turned to the United States for help, promised aid never substantiated even after months-long negotiations. The American diplomat Louis G. Dreyfus initially reported to the US government that the food situation was serious, but he soon uttered doubts about any wheat shortage and recommended that America should support "the British stand and insist on Iran helping itself before relying on Allied imports".

The British government blamed the situation on hoarding, inefficient distribution and an inadequate transport system, but Washington suspected that the British had deliberately manipulated the food supply to further their own political objectives. Meanwhile, the Soviets banned food shipments from the north, claimed that they needed the resources for the people and soldiers fighting the Germans and blamed British mismanagement for the famine since no similar conditions existed in the Soviet-held areas. The Iranian public accused the Allies of looting the country and pushing Iran into inflation and starvation. In December 1942, demonstrations against the scarcity of food became a daily occurrence in Tehran and eventually led to riots.

After nearly two weeks, Prime Minister Ahmad Qavam ordered the police to quell the protests with deadly force, resulting in a number of deaths and injuries on both sides. During the final months of 1942 and in 1943, the streets of Kermanshah were full of semi-naked and hungry people with fifteen deaths attributed to hunger and poverty occurring every day. In February 1943, typhus broke out in the city and the hospital was closed down because of widespread infection among doctors and staff. Only in 1943, the Soviets released 25,000 tons of grain to ameliorate the situation.
Q853930
starvation
Concept
Q794
Iran
LOC
Q207991
Pahlavi dynasty
LOC
Q541369
occupied
Concept
Q145
United Kingdom
LOC
Q15180
Soviet Union
LOC
Q362
Second World War
EVE
Q64755654
Louis G. Dreyfus
PER
Q3616
Tehran
LOC
Q124757
riots
Concept
Q400712
Ahmad Qavam
PER
Q180078
Kermanshah
LOC
Q160649
typhus
Concept
Q77691486
Iranian famine of 1942–1943
UNK
1942-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1942
DATE
1941-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1941
DATE
1942-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1942
DATE
1942-12-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
December 1942
DATE
1942-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1942
DATE
1943-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1943
DATE
1943-02-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
February 1943
DATE
1943-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1943
DATE
+1943^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
1943
NUMBER
+75^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
75
NUMBER
participant
participant
significant event