The funds generated from the gold would eventually be absorbed into Iran’s central reserves. While official records about the precise allocation of these resources remain sparse, it is widely believed that the gold helped stabilize the national economy during a decade marked by infrastructural expansion, industrial development, and increasing military spending under the Shah’s modernization policies.
VI. National Reactions: Between Pride and Suspicion
The 1955 gold handover was celebrated in official Iranian media as a triumph of diplomacy. State newspapers such as Ettela’at and Kayhan ran stories with headlines praising the government’s “firm and dignified” negotiation tactics and highlighting the symbolic victory over Soviet silence. Editorials praised the Shah’s leadership and credited his vision for Iran’s “return to its rightful place among sovereign nations.”
Yet not all Iranians viewed the event through a lens of pure optimism. Among intellectuals, students, and opposition politicians, the gesture was received with a mix of cautious approval and deeper skepticism. Some questioned why Iran had waited a full decade after the war to receive compensation. Others argued that no amount of gold could erase the Soviet Union’s meddling in northern Iran, especially its support for the short-lived People’s Government of Azerbaijan and the Kurdish Republic of Mahabad in 1946.
Moreover, there was concern about the opacity surrounding how the funds would be used. Iran’s political culture at the time was tightly controlled, with the Shah’s power increasingly centralized after the 1953 coup. Although the handover was publicly celebrated, questions about transparency, corruption, and the Shah’s broader economic ambitions continued to circulate in private gatherings and foreign diplomatic reports.