Guess Again

July 18, 1952 — The Daily Republic


The Mossadegh Project | April 10, 2015                    


Mitchell, South Dakota newspaper The Daily Republic published this editorial on Iran two days after Mossadegh’s short-lived resignation as Prime Minister.




Mossadegh Makes One More Bad Guess

Premier Mohammed Mossadegh of Iran may have made one bad guess too many.

The extremely nationalistic leader of Iran has been denied the right to take over personal control of the War ministry—a move that would have made him virtual dictator of the oil rich country, so he resigned.

Mossadegh’s history as premier has been a series of bad guesses. And his country has suffered severely as a result.

Topping his bad guess list are two:
1.—England could be forced into complete surrender on the issue of who controls Iran’s valuable oil resources; and, 2.—That if Britain didn’t surrender the United States would step in to see that the flow of oil continued and that none of it went east to Russia.

England didn’t bow. When Mossadegh refused to even consider compromising the issues (and there were many points for the British) London simply withdrew her technicians and all other employes. The results were an almost complete shut-down of the industry.

And the American State Department refused to be panicked into filling the gap. Rather, American diplomats urged compromise after compromise and when these failed publicly withdrew from the dispute.

As a result, Iran has suffered from an extreme shortage of cash. The British oil royalties over a period of years has not only financed the government, they fed many people, paid for schools, relief programs and countless other activities.

Mossadegh may still be able to pull enough popular support to his demands to over rule the Shah. But Iran, and the world, will be better off if a less extreme personality can be named.


Divvying Up the Loot: The Iran Oil Consortium Agreement of 1954
Divvying Up the Loot: The Iran Oil Consortium Agreement of 1954

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Related links:

Time For Action | The Key West Citizen, October 21, 1952

Some Hope In Iran | The Knickerbocker News, July 19, 1952

Iran and Its Oil | December 20, 1951 editorial



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

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