Prince Hamid Reza Pahlavi in Evin Prison

But many of his development projects required foreign technical expertise. To avoid awarding contracts to British and Soviet Companies, Reza Shah preferred to obtain technical assistance from Germany, France, Italy and other European countries. This made problems for Iran after 1939, when Germany and Britain became enemies in World War II. Reza Shah declared Iran a neutral country, but Britain insisted that German engineers and technicians in Iran were spies with missions to sabotage British oil facilities in southwestern Iran and demanded that Iran expel all German citizens.