The failure of the Iranian Premier, Dr. Mossadegh, and the British and American Ambassadors to achieve any perceptible progress during their conference yesterday is, as Mr. Thomas O’Neill points out in a dispatch from Tehran, reason for pessimism. There was hope that the recent British willingness to talk about “some form of nationalization” and a face-to-face meeting between the three men would produce more results than the inconclusive exchange of notes.

That hope has not, on the basis of one meeting, come to any promise of fruition. But there are encouraging signs that are worth noting in the dark Iranian situation. One is the cordiality with which the fanatical and emotional Iranian Premier acceded to the American offer of assistance in the dispute. It was only last week that the Iranian Government accused America of interfering in its affairs and handed the American Ambassador a curt note in reply to the previous American communication. Now Dr. Mossadegh has not only accepted the assistance of the American representative but has asked him to continue his efforts.

Another is the confidence that the aging Iranian Premier showed that he would be able to receive American technical assistance in running the oil fields, despite a formal American statement that such assistance would not be forthcoming. Whether the American position is only a first bargaining statement, based on unwillingness to strengthen the Iranian hand against the British, or whether it is to be taken at face value, the fact that Dr. Mossadegh has expressed dependence on Americans gives a strength to the West that it was not sure it had before.

The grave danger, however, is that, regardless of any more conciliatory Iranian attitude in the future, the present Government may find it has set off more forces in that country than it can control. A reasonable agreement between the British and Iranian governments would now be much less easy to have accepted in Iran than it would have several weeks ago. If American assistance as a third party is to be effective it will have to be given with the utmost speed.