Editing Tehran Conference (section)

==Background==
Once the [[German-Soviet War]] broke out in June 1941, Churchill offered assistance to the Soviets, and an agreement to that effect was signed on 12 July 1941.<ref name="Service pp459–460">{{cite book| last = Service| first = Robert| date = 2005| title = Stalin: A Biography| publisher = Harvard University Press| location = Cambridge, Massachusetts| isbn = 978-0-674-01697-2| pages = [https://archive.org/details/stalinbiography00serv_0/page/459 459–60]| url-access = registration| url = https://archive.org/details/stalinbiography00serv_0/page/459}}</ref> However, Churchill, in a spoken radio transmission announcing the alliance with the Soviets, reminded listeners that the alliance would not change his stance against communism.<ref>Bushkovitch, Paul. A Concise History of Russia. (Cambridge University Press: 2012)</ref>

Delegations had traveled between London and Moscow to arrange the implementation of that support, and when the United States joined the war in December 1941, the delegations met in Washington as well. A [[Combined Chiefs of Staff]] committee was created to co-ordinate British and American operations and their support to the Soviets. The consequences of a global war, the absence of a unified Allied strategy, and the complexity of allocating resources between Europe and Asia had not yet been sorted out, which soon gave rise to mutual suspicions between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union.<ref name="Service pp459–460" /> There was the question of opening a second front to alleviate the German pressure on the Soviet [[Red Army]] on the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]], the question of mutual assistance (since both the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union were looking towards the United States for credit and material support, there was tension between the United States and Britain since the Americans had no desire to prop up the [[British Empire]] in the event of an Allied victory).<ref name="Service pp459–460" /> Also, neither the United States nor the United Kingdom was prepared to give Stalin a free hand in [[Eastern Europe]], and there was no common policy on how to deal with Germany after the war. Communications regarding those matters between Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin took place by telegrams and via emissaries, but it was evident that direct negotiations were urgently needed.<ref name="Service pp459–460" />

Stalin was reluctant to leave Moscow and unwilling to risk journeys by air.<ref name="Tolstoy">{{cite book|isbn=0224016652 | last = Tolstoy| first = Nikolai| author-link = Nikolai Tolstoy| year = 1981| title = Stalin's Secret War| publisher = Holt, Rinehart and Winston| page = 57}}</ref> He  went by train to Baku, and then by air.  There were two planes at Baku; one for him piloted by a colonel-general and one for officials piloted by a colonel. but Stalin chose the colonel's aircraft, saying ''Colonel-General's don't often pilot aircraft.''{{Sfn|Erickson |2001 |p= 133 }}

Roosevelt was physically disabled and found travel difficult. Churchill was an avid traveller and, as part of an ongoing series of [[List of World War II conferences|wartime conferences]], had already met with Roosevelt five times in North America and twice in Africa and had also held two prior meetings with Stalin in Moscow.<ref name="Service pp459–460" /> To arrange the urgently-needed meeting, Roosevelt tried to persuade Stalin to travel to Cairo. Stalin turned down the offer and also offers to meet in [[Baghdad]] or [[Basra]]. He finally agreed to meet in Tehran in November 1943.<ref name="Service pp459–460" /> [[Imperial State of Iran|Iran]] was a [[neutral country]] but was nevertheless [[Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran|invaded]] jointly by the [[United Kingdom]] and the [[Soviet Union]] in August 1941.