Evening star., 1951-05-20
Iran Officials Are Cool
To British Warninq
On Oil Differences
BY the Associated Press

iEHRAN, Iran, May 19.-
1ranian officials gave an icy re-
ception today to a British note
warning that refusal to negotiate
oil differences would bring "the
most serious consequences"
Premier Mohammed Massadegh
refused to receive British Am
bassador Sir Francis Shepherd
behind the locked doors and
boarded up windows of his Of
flee in the Parliament building.
So Shepherd delivered the note
instead to Foreign Minister Bag
her Kazemi.
The nervous premier has bar
ricaded himself to thwart purpor-
ted assassination plots. He has
vowed to stay in seclusion until
the giant Anglo-Iranian Oil Co.
has been taken over under the
naturalization law he pushed
through Parliament.
Note Termed Nonsense"
Iranian officials said privately
the note-on which the United
States had been consulted by
Britain-was lust the same old
nonsense"
The British proposed sending a
high level mission possibly
headed by Earl Mountbatten,
cousin of King George VIM
mediately to reach a solution on
the future of the British-owned
company.
Shepherd delivered the COM
munication to Kazemi at a 35-
minute conference Shepherd said
their talks was friendly. The Am
bassador then drove to the royal
palace and had an hours talk
with Shah Mohammed Reza
Pahlevi, an act which underlined
the inaccessibility of the premier.
Informed sources said there ap-
peared little chance that DR..
Massadegh will agree to negotiate.
He. has rebuffed one such offer.
The next move seemed to be up to
the Premier.
Paratroop Alert Reported.
Britain gave no clue to what the
serious consequences" of such &C
ton would be. Teheran papers
have given prominence, however,
to the alerting of parachute troops
in Britain and the unconhrmed re-
ports that they might intervene
to protect British property and
lives.
The State Department. in a
statement issued in Washington,
has uged Iran to negotiate, and
has indicated that American ex-
perts will not be available to re-
place British technicians if this
country goes ahead by one-sided
action to expel the British.
Britain said she did not chal-
lenge the right of Iran to nation
alize a commercial enterprise
which the British Labor govern
ment has done repeatedly The
real issue. she declared, is "the
wrong done if a sovereign state j
breaks contract which it has de-
liberately made"
Pact Runs to 1893.
The contract of 1888 between
the oil company and Iran, the note
said, provided that the terms could
not be changed except by agree
ment, and that disputes would be
settled by arbitration or the In
ternatlonal Court of Justice. The
contract has until 1898 to run.
Britain challenged Trans con-
tention that the dispute is between
Iran and the company. The Brit
ish government, the note said. !
owns majority of the company
shares and has "the fullest right
to protect its interests"
Mr.. Morrison concluded that
any attempt on Trans part to pro-
ceed unilaterally to implement
the recent legislation could not .
fail gravely to impair. those friend Z
ly relations which both wish to
exist and to have the most serious ,
consequences"
British officials in London pri- /
vately expressed hope last night,
for the first time, that Iran will
consent to dicker
The British believe the Shah |
would like to see some sort of
compromise. Speculation has
been aroused by visit of Ex-
Premier Ahmed Qavam to Switzer-
land, a center of international ac-
tivity in both diplomacy and |
finance. !
Qavam is a man of tested pro-
Western sympathieS. He had a
long talk with the Shah shortly
before leaving Teheran.
Capitol View Association .