In the early days of the Iranian crisis, Western policy looked toward the downfall of Mossadegh. We’re now reduced to supporting the wily Iranian Premier because the only possible alternatives are worse.

If things were desperate once, what are they now? Western policy agrees that a Communist coup would be intolerable, shifting the whole balance of power in the Middle East. But what’s to prevent it?

Against this grim backdrop, our Point IV program technical aid will be launched in Iran this month in an acid test. From its limited funds comes half the capital for the $1,000,000 agricultural bank which will make loans to newly liberated Iranian peasants. Borrowing there at low interest rates will keep many of them out of the clutches of the loan sharks which, as elsewhere in Asia, fasten lifetime economic slavery on the luckless peasant. Point IV will also open a school for training experts who can help the peasants as the landed estates are broken up and the sharecroppers come into their own.

The debut of Point IV in Iran once drew angry fire from Britain on the ground it might prop up the Mossadegh regime. There’s little doubt it does; but the time has come when it’s not so bad anymore.

Lest we forget, Point IV also drew fire from the Republican know-nothings. Even now some of the Senators who voted against it continue to denounce Mr. Truman for his lack of foresight in the Middle East. They ought to read the Iran story.