Former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has claimed that Britain cheated Iran during the reign of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi by accepting payment for Chieftain tanks that were never delivered. In an interview with Arab journalist Ammar Taqi, Johnson alleged that Tehran had paid £400 million for the British-made tanks before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, but the shipment did not materialise.
He further suggested that some of the tanks were later sold to other buyers, including Iraq under Saddam Hussein, Iran’s regional adversary at the time.
‘Iranians Had a Case Against Us’
Johnson said the dispute left Britain with a clear moral obligation to repay the money. Johnson said: “The truth is Iranians had a case against us. Which had to do with a debt for some tanks that we had sold to the shah of Iran in 1979. So it’s so complicated but before the revolution the Brits had sold the Shah a lot of chieftain tanks which were a big type of british tank and I think the totals and the Iranians the Shah of Iran paid for those tanks. I think for like 400 million pounds.”
However, he said that the British never delivered the tanks.
So, he said, “With the Shah then got deposed and the tanks never arrived and I think some of the tanks we then sold to other people, Like I think even to Saddam Hussein. So it was a classic. So the point was that we owed the money for the tanks. We really did and we had the money and the tanks. Well, we sold the tanks. So we had the money. We had, we sold the same.”
“We sold the same camel twice. It is typical British manoeuvre. It’s like, we did with. The result was that we had a moral case for paying the Iranians,” Boris said.
Johnson characterised the episode as a “typical British manoeuvre,” comparing it to policies he said London had pursued in Palestine during the era of imperial administration.
Renewed Debate Over Britain’s Middle East Legacy
The remarks have reignited discussion about Britain’s historical role in West Asia, particularly its arms dealings and political interventions during the Cold War period. Critics argue that while Iran and Palestinian resistance movements are frequently portrayed negatively in Western narratives, it is often imperial powers that initiate destabilising actions.
Johnson’s comments, delivered with a degree of irony, have been interpreted by some as an unusual admission from a former British leader regarding contested aspects of the country’s foreign policy history.
The tank dispute between London and Tehran has long been a sensitive issue in bilateral relations, symbolising decades of mistrust that followed the Iranian Revolution and subsequent geopolitical realignments.
