Red-Handed

September 26, 1951 — U.S. Editorial


Arash Norouzi

The Mossadegh Project | January 22, 2015                      


This propagandistic piece ran in the editorial section of numerous newspapers across the USA between around Wednesday, September 26 and Monday, October 29, 1951 — an incredible month long span.

Newspapers who published and presented it as their own original opinions included:

The Niagara Falls Gazette (Niagara Falls, New York) — September 26, 1951
The Wilmington News-Journal (Wilmington, Ohio) — September 28, 1951
The Independent Record (Helena, Montana) — October 29, 1951 (titled Iran Flirts With Russia)


Iran never did ink an oil deal with the USSR, and we have found no such ‘announcement’ that she had initiated oil negotiations with them—the basis for this entire commentary •




Iran Oil to Russia

Facing a critical financial situation because of the loss of revenue from petroleum, the government of Iran has announced negotiations with Soviet Russia are getting under way, expected to result in some sort of barter agreement by which Russia will get the oil which formerly went to Great Britain.

The announcement may have little basis in fact and may be designed to stampede the London government into accepting Iran’s terms.

If it enters into an agreement with Russia, Iran will quickly learn it is a one-way affair. Russia never dealt honorably with any nation. If the reds get their hands on Iranian petroleum, the revenue so badly needed will not follow. Russia will simply move in and take over, and Premier Mossadegh, now so cocky with Great Britain, will go into the discard.

Russia has become a sort of stalking horse for many of the smaller European nations. They threaten to go over to the communists unless the anti-communist bloc deals on their terms.

It is vital for European security to keep Iranian oil out of Russian hands. Iran is playing this note for all it is worth.


Truman and Mossadegh’s First Messages on Iran Oil Dispute (1951)
President Truman and Premier Mossadegh's First Messages on Iran Oil Dispute (1951)

Search MohammadMossadegh.com



Related links:

Intent on Evicting West, Iran Virtually Asks Russia In | Buffalo Courier-Express, July 1952

Will We Wish We’d Saved Iran From Stalin? | The Philadelphia Inquirer, Sept. 27, 1951

Iran Sizzles | The WORLD This WEEK, September 28, 1951



MOSSADEGH t-shirts — “If I sit silently, I have sinned”

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