In 1920, after the Ottoman Empire was partitioned, the United Kingdom formally established control over what was to become Iraq under a mandate from the League of Nations.
[3] The main purpose of the treaty was to give the British a variety of commercial and military rights within the country after independence.
[4][5] British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was to write that the 1930 treaty provided that the British could maintain air bases near Basra and Habbaniya "in times of peace" and have the right of transit for military forces and supplies "at all times".
In addition, Churchill indicated that the treaty would provide "all possible facilities" including the use of railways, rivers, ports, and airways for the passage of armed forces "during times of war".
[6][7] The terms of the treaty were used to justify a British invasion and the occupation of Iraq after a nationalist coup whose leaders had contacts among the Axis powers.