Evening star., 1952-09-01
Ironion Unreosoninu

Prime Minister MoSSadegh'S rejection of the
latest British-American effort to resolve the
Iranian oil crisis is both disappointing and diff
cult to rationalize
Contained in three point plan submitted
to the Iranian leader in the name of President
Truman and Prime Minister Churchill, the offer
which has been spurned so summarily repre-
sented rather substantial concessions from pre-
vious British positions on the controversy and
would have provided immediate fiscal relief to
the Teheran government in the form of an
American $40 million grant.
The most basic of the issues which have
snarled earlier attempts to negotiate settle
ment of the long dispute were treated in the
Truman Churchill proposal and on terms that
appeared to be most favorable to the Iranian
point of view.
For example, it Is recognized at this point
that the Iranian government will not retreat
from its position that it has the complete legal
and moral right to nationalize the oil industry
and to take possession of the properties. The
British government, by joining In the proposal
that the World Court should determine the
amount of compensation to be paid to the Anglo
Iranian Oil Company acknowledged the fact OF
naturalization and indicated readiness in that
framework to discontinue any further contest
over the right It was significant, too, that in
flow of oil from Iran to world markets the
British were seemingly abandoning hope of their
return as operators of the fields and refineries
"a point on which Dr. Mossadegh has always
been most resistant-apd seeking only an under
standing on purchasing and marketing of the
Iranian production.
AS for quick financial assistance, the re-
jected offer not only included the American
grant but perhaps as much as $50 million more
through sale of two million tons of oil now in
the AIOC storage tanks in Iran This, too, repre-
sented major British concession in the sense
that their previous position has been that the
stored oil is AIOC property and could not legally
be sold by the Iranian government.
Actually, in his broadcast message to the
Iranian people announcing his rejection of the
Truman-Churchill offer DR.. Mossadegh ex-
planned to them neither the terms Of the pro-
posal nor his reasons for turning them down.
While his action of summoning the Parliament
for an extraordinary session to review the case
leaves slight hope that there will be a change
of mind, the good doctors entire behavior in
this protracted controversy leads one to believe
that good judgment and a sense of reality are
in short supply.
This dispute, arising originally out of dis
agreement between the Teheran Government
and the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company over re-
vision of the concession contract, has now kept
one of the worlds greatest oil industries shut
down for nearly Is months. For Iran, the results
have been near-bankruptcy and transition in
political life from the shadow of parliamentary
processes to the substance of dictatorship. Close
by is the threat of communism, expressed
through the growing and increasingly vocal
Tudeh Party.
For AIOC, one of the worlds major market
ing as well as producing companies, the results
have been a substantial redistribution of its
tanker fleet, the development of new sources
of supply in an endeavor to hold its customers,
and long-t term plans involving development work
in Canada and new refinery facilities at various
points-all costly items.
For the free world in general, the results
have been the loss at critical period Of the
normal Iranian production both of crude oil
and refined products, particularly aviation gaso-
line, and the gravely disturbing threat Of Com
munist capture Of strategically vital country.