Invitation to Suicide
Edgar Ansel Mowrer — August 26, 1952

The Mossadegh Project | February 16, 2022                    


Edgar Ansel Mowrer — journalist, foreign correspondent and commentator

"Questions in Foreign Affairs" — a column by journalist Edgar Ansel Mowrer (1892-1977).




Questions in Foreign Affairs

Q: “Some U.S. authorities seem all set to bail out with our money Mohammed Mossadegh, the weeping Iranian whose confiscation of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company properties has brought that country to the verge of disaster. Do you think Iran should be bailed out and if so, why?” (I. O., Corpus Christi, Texas).

I think Mossadegh should be left to stew in his own juice (or rejoice in his own stew). I believe the United States should end once for all the hopes of the many governments who demand help (rather than ask politely for it) along with the threat that without it their country will go Communist. If the fanatical Iranian now in charge of that country would rather be taken over by the U.S.S.R. than make a fair settlement for the British properties which he confiscated, then he should be politely invited to commit suicide.

If this seems a dangerous line for us to take, remember that giving in to the weeping Mossadegh will encourage a dozen other Irans to believe that by flirting with Communism (as Mossadegh is doing) they can get what they want from Uncle Sam.


TIME’s 1951 Man of the Year: Challenge of the East

Search MohammadMossadegh.com



Related links:

Christian A. Herter Asks: “What Shall We Do In Iran?” (Feb. 1953)

Mossadegh on the Way Out? | Dr. Mossadegh and the Iranians (Nov. 1951)

Middle East Contrasts | St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Nov. 1952 Letter)



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

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