Moussadek's Progress
The United States, according to Mr. Hassibi, adviser on oil to Dr. Moussadek, " by being hoodwinked by John Bull, has unwittingly lost favour with the Persians." That variation of the usual charge that London is in bondage to Washington will no doubt not afflict the American people unduly. Dr. Moussadek's almost contemptuous rejection of the Anglo-American proposals put before him by Mr. Churchill and. President Truman has indeed dispelled the last shred of sympathy for Persia lingering in odd corners of the United States, and united Britain and America as they never have been united on this issue since all the trouble started. The Anglo-American offer was conspicuously fair. It included the submission of the question of the amount of compensation due to the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company to the International Court of Justice at The Hague; the provision for arrangements between the Persian Government and the A.O.I.C. for " the flow of oil from Persia to world markets "; the removal by Britain of restrictions on export to Persia and on Persia's use of blocked sterling; the payment by America of ten million dollars to meet Persia's immediate needs. Mr. Acheson on Wednesday demonstrated the equity of the offer convincingly. But Dr. Moussadek will have none of it, and America is told that her $10m. should be ten times as much. What is the next move to be ? On the Persian side the next move is with the Majliss, which Dr. Moussadek has summoned for next Wednesday. What no doubt he is hoping is to play off Britain and America against one another, though there is little more room for illusion about that; or to work on the assumed anxiety of both about the domination of Persia by the Communist Tudeh Party, and the fear of Russian action on the northern frontier; or the still greater fear of Persia's relapse into complete political and economic chaos. In all this the nationalist drum will be thumped hard, and it may for the moment be thumped successfully. Dr. Moussadek has displayed an effective Oriental adroitness so far, but members of the Majliss may have had time before Wednesday to reflect on the state to which the Prime Minister has reduced their country and feel little disposed to salute him as a national hero. But of course there is always Mr. Alton Jones.
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