Former UK PM Admits Britain Cheated Iran in Chieftain Tank Purchase Contract
REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, LONDON – Prime Minister (PM) of Britain from 2019 to 2022, Boris Johnson, has admitted that the British government once deceived Iran. This occurred in the 1970s era when Britain cheated Iran in the contract for purchasing main battle tanks (MBT) Chieftain.
The admission was made by Johnson as a guest star on the Black Box (Shasha) programme, hosted by Arab journalist Ammar Taqi, in February 2026. In that question-and-answer session, Johnson candidly recounted his political career journey, including the British government’s policies in the Gulf region.
It began when Iran’s Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi signed the purchase of 1,750 Chieftain units from Britain. Under the Monarchy regime, the purchase of those modern tanks at the time cost a contract worth £400 million, or approximately Rp 9 trillion in 1976.
In early 1979, Britain had sent 185 units of those main tanks to Iran. A month later, the Iranian Revolution occurred. The regime changed. The Monarchy collapsed, replaced by the Islamic Republic government.
Under Ayatollah Khomeini’s command, Iran, which had previously been close to the West, including Britain, changed course. Britain acted dishonestly by not fulfilling the contract to send thousands of tanks to Iran.
In fact, Britain reportedly sold the Chieftains to Iraq under President Saddam Hussein. At that time, Britain was an ally of the Iraqi president. Later, Iraq used those tanks to wage war against Iran.
Johnson said that the dispute created a clear moral obligation for Britain to return Iran’s money. “The truth is that Iran has a case against us. Related to the debt over some tanks that we sold to the Shah of Iran in 1979,” said the former Conservative Party leader.
If calculated with inflation and bank interest, the value of £400 million is now equivalent to £10 billion, or approximately Rp 226 trillion. Iran won in arbitration in 2008, whose decision ordered Britain to return the money.
The matter was finally settled during Johnson’s government era. In 2022, Britain channelled £393 million, or approximately Rp 8.9 trillion, to Iran. As part of the agreement, the Iranian government released the British-Iranian writer Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who had been detained by local authorities since 2016.
“So this is very complicated, but before the revolution, Britain had sold a lot of Chieftain tanks to the Shah, which is a type of big British tank, and I think the total paid by the Shah of Iran for those tanks was around £400 million,” Johnson said, quoted from ABP Live, Sunday (22/3/2026).