Iran sought the same 50-50 split of profits that had previously been granted to both Venezuela and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia by the oil giants of the United States of America. Britain denied Iran's request, instead choosing to keep the lion's share of the profits accrued from the production of Iranian oil.[9] Britain had no intentions of letting Mossadeq nationalize the APOC without some sort of compensation, but was unable to get an agreeable compromise from Mossadeq. When the issue was brought before the International Court of Justice on July 22, 1952, the court ruled that it was unable to intervene in the conflict, stating "it is nothing more than a concessionary contract between a government and a foreign corporation * * * It does not regulate in any way the relations between the two Governments"[10] This ruling caused Britain to revisit Mossadeq's first proposal of a 50–50 profit split, however by this point it was too late.[9] After this loss, the British began using alternative tactics to force Mossadeq to agree to a more suitable compromise, placing severe economic embargoes on Iranian exports as well as withdrawing the skilled workers needed to run the APOC refineries, known as the Abadan Crisis.[11][12]