Future Satellites

January 10, 1952 — The Daily Examiner


The Mossadegh Project | June 8, 2022                    


Lead and sole editorial in The Daily Examiner of Grafton, New South Wales, Australia.

Australian media archive




The Road To Ruin

SOME events cannot be prevented. One such event is the ruin of Iran and its virtual annexation by the Soviet unless the aged Mohammed Mossadeq is replaced as Prime Minister. And when Iran, a vital link in the Western Powers’ plans for world defence, falls into Soviet hands the balance of power will be tipped dangerously in favour of Communism.

Any Iranian Government in power in the near future whether Mossadeq's or another’s, is going to require substantial American assistance to escape substantial financial disintegration. That disintegration is expected by observers on the spot to take place before Easter. It will certainly give the well-organised Communist underground its supreme opportunity.

For several months now the Government has kept itself going by a curious economic process. It has been living off about £14,000,000 sterling which previously formed part of the backing of the Iranian currency. Funds are so light that Iranian diplomats and overseas representatives have been recalled to save expense.

Only a miracle in the form of American financial intervention can save Iran. Without that miracle, there will be mass unemployment and mass misery in the cities by Easter. Hordes of Government officials will be turned loose. Seventy thousand oil workers will suddenly find themselves without any means of livelihood at all. Then will come into its own the outlawed Communist Party, the only really organised and disciplined political force in the country.

It is not possible to predict either the timing or the precise form of a Soviet victory in Iran. But it is as certain as such things can be that this ancient land is doomed to economic collapse and chaos. It is also certain that the capture of Iran has been a top priority Soviet objective since Molotov demanded “the Persian Gulf area” from von Ribbentrop as the Soviet Union’s share of the loot during the time of the infamous Nazi Soviet pact. [Foreign Ministers Vyacheslav Molotov (Russia) and Joachim von Ribbentrop (Germany)]

The danger to Iran is as real as was the danger to Greece in the spring of 1947. Mossadeq is counting on precisely this. He hopes for aid from America in view of the tremendous complications which would follow for America if Iran became another Soviet satellite. Yet any sort of reasonable settlement is out of the question while Mossadeq remains Prime Minister. Nine months of so-called negotiation should have been enough to drive this point home even to the most optimistic.


70th Anniversary of TIME’s 1951 Man of the Year
Challenge of the East: TIME's 1951 Man of the Year Mohammad Mossadegh

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Related links:

Mossadeq’s Mission | The Daily Examiner, October 18, 1952

Soviets Object to U.S. Military Aid To Iran (May 1952 Letter)

Dollars Alone Won’t Help | Muncie Evening Press, Aug. 27, 1952



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

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