It was just a year ago that Averell Harriman left Iran after a futile attempt to bring the British and the Iranians together on a solution of the oil dispute. The mission was a failure, but in the course of the talks Mr. Harriman made two things clear. One was that he considered the British offers to be fundamentally sound as a basis for negotiations. He placed most—though not all—of the blame for the breakdown on the adamant attitude of the Iranians. The other thing he made clear was that the Iranians could not expect the United States to bail them out either with an overwhelming flow of aid or with American oil technicians.

A year has passed. Things can and do change in that time, and the present mystery visit of Mr. W. Alton Jones, head of Cities Service Oil Company, to Iran suggests that something may very well be afoot. The United States Government has carefully repudiated Mr. Jones’s visit as being in any way official. But taken in context with other developments, Mr. Jones’s visit seems insignificant.

For one thing the Communists in Iran have become increasingly active, and the State Department is clearly getting worried over the situation. The common cause made by Mossadegh’s backer, Mullah Kashani, and the Communists during last month’s rioting, and the consequent overthrow, of the middle-of-the-road Premier Qavam are danger signals. [Ahmad Ghavam]

Mossadegh himself, bolstered by a World Court refusal to take jurisdiction over the oil dispute, has shown signs of wishing to reopen negotiations with the British. Finally, there are the persistent reports of a proposal by Mr. Acheson to the British suggesting immediate action to retrieve the Iranian situation before it deteriorates even further. [Sec. of State Dean Acheson] Under the circumstances the presence of an American oil man in Iran is bound to stir up more speculation than usual. The hope must be that it will also stir up action in a dispute that has been stalemated too long.