blockade definition
blockade was the means by which the United Kingdom and AIOC most influenced American policy, but it both helped and hurt the British position. In one sense, the oil embargo succeeded in weakening Mossadegh and piquing American interest in Iran. Yet it nearly backfired by encouraging the United States to seek a settlement on terms that the British did not want so as to prop up Mossadegh. The British were willing to make some concessions on issues like economic aid to Iran in order to keep the Americans on their side and continue the oil boycott.303 However, the United States would not agree to a statement promising not to buy oil from Iran, and the British noted that many members of the National Security Council wanted American companies to purchase Iranian oil as a means of improving the Iranian economy and buttressing Mossadegh’s government.304 The Department of Defense could even be forced to buy Iranian oil due to an American law mandating that it procure supplies at the lowest possible price.305 The British wondered amongst themselves if a bad American-brokered deal was better than no deal at all: “If therefore we find eventually that we cannot restrain the Americans from taking some unilateral action of this kind, it will be for consideration whether we should acquiesce or allow a break in the joint Anglo-American front to become apparent.” British officials decided that their best move was to continue in negotiations to “keep the Americans in