The Middle East has always been noted for its strange and sometimes fantastic ways, and none of its past will be able to beat — for drama — the events of the past few days in Iran.

Premier Mossadegh put down an ill-fated coup by the shah, who promptly took his beautiful wife (one of the most fascinating features of recent Iranian history is its high incidence of beautiful women) into exile.

But almost before he’d got a place to stay in Rome, Mossadegh was toppled from power, and the shah’s army head was in control. And the Shah was pedaling back to Tehran, setting a modern record for exiled potentates — only four days unemployed.

It’s the kind of thing Hollywood has been doing for 20 years, though the queens of the movie versions haven’t been able to hold a candle to Iran’s queen when it comes to pulchritude. We don’t know how long the shah is going to stay in Tehran — things happen wondrously fast over there — but we suggest that if he should become unemployed again, he might take passage immediately to the film capital, bringing along, of course, his own co-star.