Although the occupation of Iran was scheduled to end after the war at the Potsdam Conference following Germany 's surrender , Stalin objected to Churchill 's proposal for an early allied withdrawal from Iran ahead of the agreed-upon schedule set at the Teheran Conference . Following VJ Day in September 1945 , first the US and then the UK withdrew their forces within the treaty-stipulated period . The Soviets not only violated the March 2 withdrawal deadline ; in that time they had expanded their military presence southward . By mid-December 1945 , with the use of troops and secret police , they had set up two pro-Soviet " People 's Democratic Republics " within Iranian territory , the Azerbaijan People 's Republic headed by Sayyid Jafar Pishevari and the Kurdish Republic of Mahabad under President Pesheva Qazi Muhammad . It is another example of the Soviet Union 's appropriation of Imperial Russia 's geopolitical ambitions , as the disputed zone had already been occupied by Imperial Russia 35 years before , in the 1911 Russian invasion of Tabriz
Potsdam Conference
Potsdam Conference
Iran crisis of 1946