The United Kingdom-United States Mutual Understanding of the Importance of the Special Relationship:From Nationalization of the Iranian Oil Industry to the JCPOA

The term ‘special relationship’ is used to describe the United Kingdom–United States relations and their extensive economic, military, and diplomatic cooperation since World War II. The nationalization of the Iranian oil industry is one of the first, and the JCPOA nuclear deal is one of the most important issues Britain and the United States have faced since establishing the special relationship; events that can be studied for a deeper understanding of this phenomenon. In this regard, the central question of the present study was how the United Kingdom and the United States have sought to maintain and boost the special relationship, even in a situation of conflict of interest. In response to this question, and using the documentary method and studying the two strategic allies’ relations during the nationalization of Iranian oil and the JCPOA in the theoretical framework of the alliance theory, the main hypothesis was that the United States' support for British anti-Iranian policies during the nationalization of Iranian oil, and reciprocally, lack of serious British opposition to the United States’ withdrawal from the JCPOA, showed that there is nothing more special and important than a special relationship in both the British and American foreign policies.