‘Country Not for Sale,’ Iran Informs Truman
September 2, 1952 — The Associated Press
September 2, 1952 — The Associated Press
| The Mossadegh Project | May 10, 2021 |
Iranian Paper Rips Truman’s Oil Aid Offer
British, U.S. Assailed For Refusal To End Row
TEHRAN, Iran, Sept. 2 — (AP) — The Nationalist newspaper Shahed bitterly assailed President Truman today for joining Prime Minister Churchill in their joint proposal to end the Anglo-Iranian oil dispute.
The paper said Truman should tell the British the “only way open to them is unconditional surrender to the rights of the Iranian people.”
The editorial was the first comment by an important newspaper here since U.S. Ambassador Loy Henderson and British Charge D’Affaires George Middleton submitted the proposal to Premier Mohammed Mossadegh last Saturday. The aged Nationalist leader at once rejected it verbally.
Mossadegh has called Parliament’s lower House, the Majlis, to meet Sept. 10 to help him frame formal reply to the proposal. Iran, like the rest of the Moslem world, currently is observing important religious holidays.
Shahed was particularly displeased with his American offer to loan 10 million dollars if Iran would agree to let the International Court of Justice arbitrate the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company’s claim for compensation for its nationalized properties in the country.
“We request Henderson,” the paper wrote, “to inform his master this country is not for sale at any price. We are willing to sell our oil, but we cannot trade in terms of our independence. We determine the fate of our resources. The Americans can pay 10 million dollars to their British cousins. They can both leave us alone.”
The paper indicated it believed Iran might turn Communist if the West was not careful how it deals with the situation here.
It also implied that it hoped soon to see Aneurin Bevan, leader of the left wing of the British Labor party, replace Churchill as British prime minister and settle the oil dispute.
Shahed also criticized the British offer to help market Iran’s oil, saying, “We have ceased to recognize the former oil company and cannot enter into any negotiations with it. Mr. Truman fails to appreciate this fact and Churchill ignores what has happened in Iran and is happening in the canal zone in Egypt.”
“America tells the world of its economic aid to us, but actually supports Churchill who intends to strike a fatal blow to this country. Churchill and (Foreign Secretary Anthony) Eden hoped to solve the oil problem with Mossadegh’s successor (former Premier Ahmed Qavam, who had pledged to settle the oil dispute). [Ahmad Ghavam] We in turn hope to settle the dispute with Mr. Bevan of the Labor party.”
Shaded said the “occupants of the White House . . . are unable to see what happened in China and what is happening in the Middle East.”
“The White House has instructed Mr. Henderson to buy out the Iranian peasants for 10 million dollars. The Americans spent a few hundred million dollars in Greece and Turkey for the same purpose. The resurrection of a nation cannot be bought with a few million dollars.”
Alternate headlines:
Iran Newspaper Blasts Truman Over Oil Issue
Iran Paper Assails Truman On Proposal
Iranian Press Assails U.S. Offer of Deal
Iran Newspaper Assails Truman In Oil Dispute
Iran Paper Assails Joining In Oil Dispute Proposal With Eng. Minister
Iran Newspaper Flays U.S. Offer
Iran Newspaper Blasts U.S. Offer Of $10 Million
Iran Paper Assails Truman For Joining Churchill in Oil Offer
Iran Newspaper Assails Truman — Joint British-U.S. Oil Offer Is Bitterly Attacked
Iranian Paper Hits U.S. Offer — Cannot Buy Nation’s Freedom, Editorial On Oil Dispute Says
Truman Lashed For Cooperating In Oil Proposal
Truman Attacked by Iranians For Joining In Oil Peace Plan
Proposal Made to Iran Is Attacked
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Related links:
Decree Orders ‘New Deal’ for Iran’s Peasants | AP, August 14, 1952
Point Four Activities in Iran Under Heavy Fire | Constantine Brown, August 12, 1952
Fighting Feared In Iran | Joseph and Stewart Alsop, August 25, 1951
MOSSADEGH t-shirts — “If I sit silently, I have sinned”
