August 21, 1953 — The Honolulu Advertiser
| The Mossadegh Project | March 10, 2025 |
An editorial response to the 1953 coup in Iran in The Honolulu Advertiser newspaper (Honolulu, Hawaii).
At Last, Order in Iran?
Events in Iran are shaping up to what may be final solution of the unhappy country’s chaotic internal political and economic situation, but the violence that continues to prevail there makes impossible any logical conclusion as to the
probable outcome.
Apparently, the weepy and wiley [sic] regime of Premier
Mossadegh has come to an end and, for the time, at least, an attempted coalition with Communist elements has been frustrated by forces loyal to Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlevi.
[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi]
* * * *
Prudently absent from his country during this period of upheaval and bloody revolt, the young
Shah may be able to restore order and create a stable government, but only after his supporters have obtained complete control of turbulent and inflamed people.
Mossadegh’s conduct as head of Iran’s government has been inexplicable to the outside world, as his policies and diplomatic vagaries not only resulted in disaster to Iran’s relationships with other nations, but directly precipitated
the country’s current bloody revolution.
* * * *
Because of its strategic value as one of the world’s great oil-producing areas, Iran became a pawn in the struggle between the Communist and non-Communist powers. And while it is possible that Mossadegh sought by his devious methods to
maintain his country’s security by playing off one side against the other, his schemes have ended in disaster.
The situation has been further complicated by the weakness of British policy in the Middle East and by the wavering of our own
State Department, but it would
now appear that a firm United States policy, backed up by a realistic program of aiding a stable Iranian government to reestablish order at home and normal relations abroad, is at last possible.
Related links:
Disgusting and Frightening | The Hawaii Times, Aug. 18, 1953
Whither Iran? | Detroit Free Press, August 21, 1953
Only A Battle, Not A War | The Cincinnati Enquirer, August 21, 1953
MOSSADEGH t-shirts — “If I sit silently, I have sinned”
