SUMMARY:

This article examines the attitude adopted by Russian government officials and diplomats toward the Iranian constitutional movement in 1907–1912. Framed by the discourse of international prestige, it was shaped by fundamental factors such as foreign policy and domestic security concerns, imperialism, and orientalism. Of no less importance was the role of Russian diplomats in Iran. They had developed and sustained a wide network of political clients who were supposed to act as agents of Russian influence in the country, ranging from local chieftains to members of the ruling dynasty. At some point, the commitment of numerous Russian consular officers in Iran to their clients outweighed pragmatism, and instead of building relationships with the revolutionary government, they began lobbying for Russia’s military intervention in support of counterrevolutionary forces. Depending on information coming from the field officers in Iran and obsessed with the notion of imperial prestige and contempt for revolution, the Russian government eventually gave in to this pressure.