Evening star., 1946-04-19
Iran News Lid Held &,
Endonqerinq Peace
Writer Asks Security Council
What 1t Will Do About 1t
By David Laurence

BY Dauid Laurence
Iran, which has needed the help OF
world opinion to keep Russia from
grabbing her resources, now suddenly
clamps censorship on all news dis
patches sent from that country. The
oretically Iran no longer needs the help
Of world opinion.
This is incredible. And, of course,
nobody in the State Department which
made public the facts about the censor
ship believes for one moment that this
step was taken by Iran OF her own
free will.
Here is situation which is far more
dangerous to world peace than the
Spanish problem or even the question
Of keeping Russian troops on the soil
Of Iran. For If nation can be blacked
out by the dominating influence of a
neighboring government, the United Ma
tions might as well confess failure.
The whole theory behind the Charter
adopted in San Francisco is that an
appeal can and should be made to the
conscience of countries which are in
clined to choose the path of aggression.
Russia has exhibited tendencies toward
aggression. though the polite word to use
nowadays is expansion"
Menacing Coercion.
Up to now the question before the
United Nations Security Council was
whether Iran was being coerced into an
agreement on oil concessions as the
price of withdrawing Russian troops.
Now, however, greater and much more
menac1ng form of coercion has appeared
the imposition, probably at the behest
Of Russia, of censorship such as Mos
cow often imposes.
The principle of censorship is well
understood in wartime but it has ab-
solutely no justification in time of peace.
The very fact that Iran had to impose
the censorship indicates that the Rus
slams are afraid to let the truth come
out about what is happening. Fear of
the truth about the misbehavior of
major powers in their relations with
other countries is the usual reason for
censorship in peacetime.
The United Nations has proclaimed
It's interest in freedom of information
Ihls was one of the -four freedoms"
extolled by the late President Roose-
welt and inscribed on many a banner
that was unfurled during the war to
encourage American boys to give their
lives for that cause.
What will the United Nations SecurI.
ty Council do about it? Should it not
ask the government Of Iran for an
explanation and ask for testimony
from newspapers in Iran? Should not
the representatives of the press and
government of Iran be brought before
the Council In an inquiry as to what
were the forces or influences behind
this sudden use of censorship powers.
especially as they relate to foreign cor
respondents?
Unreasonable Censorship.
If the Security Council is authorized
to investigate ANY situation" which
could conceivably endanger the peace
OF the world, then what has Just oc-
Cured in Iran is pertinent. The form
OF censorship imposed is one of the
most unreasonable ever devised. Cor
respondents are not even permitted to
see what is deleted or to learn whether
their dispatches have been suppressed.
The American Embassy at Teheran
cabled to the State Department the
facts and indicated the seriousness of
the development.
The American delegate to the United
Nations Conference has the right to
ask that the subject be put on the
agenda of the Security Council for
further investigation. Once a small
country subject to foreign influences
loses its autonomy. the United Nations
has the right to inquire whether the
nation back of the move has an ag-
gresslve purpose. The forcing of GEN.
sorship on a weak neighbor is an in
cipient form Of aggression.
The United Nations Charter was de-
signed to nip aggression in the bud
before it could flourish. If the League
OF Nations could have sensed the dan
gers in Hitlers totalitarianism as early
as 1884 and 1885 and if the powers had
acted In concert then, there might never
have been an opportunity for the Nazis
to gather the raw materials they needed
to build their armament and World War
II might have been prevented. The
United Nations has before it the pat
tern OF totalitarianism which led to
aggression before. The abolition of the
four freedoms can be readily regarded
as the beginning of trouble in any area
of the world.
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