IRAN is one of those powderkegs with many compartments, widely separated.

Despite dire predictions, the keg has seemed incapable of exploding all at once in a single big crisis. When Iran proposed a plan for nationalizing the oil properties of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Co., compartment number one exploded. Since then, the fuse has been burning from compartment to compartment as lachrymose Premier Mossadegh has tried to pressure the west by playing footsie with the Russians and with the Communist Tudeh party of his own country. [How so?]

The latest explosion was the ousting of Mossadegh himself by the Royalists and the installation of a successor who is said to be anti-Communist if not pro-Western in his sentiments.

This development should be regarded with what is known in diplomatic parlance as “guarded optimism.” It is good to know that Mossedagh’s [sic] successor is anti-Communist. It is cause for concern that the Tudeh party, which enjoyed relative immunity under Mossadegh despite the fact that it is an illegal party, may now seek to exploit the disturbance.

Whatever happens, this country can be proud of the refusal of President Eisenhower to be bribed by the double-dealing Mossadegh. The crying premier held Russia over our head as a club in an effort to get his way in the oil conflict and to get economic aid.

Mossadegh said the whole keg might explode if he didn’t get his demands. President Eisenhower replied last month that this government is disturbed by the freedom of the Tudeh party and by the failure of Iran to reach an agreement in the oil dispute. He added that no large-scale aid is forthcoming. [Ike said nothing about the Tudeh Party.]

This reply was considered by Mossadegh as an attempt to interfere with Iranian affairs. We were told, in effect, that what Iran did was none of our business. Obviously, if it were none of our business, it wasn’t our business either to give Iran our dollars.

When President Eisenhower clamped down on foreign aid, he was carrying out a theory he formulated long before he became President — that when we show our friendship by giving dollars, we should expect at least the reciprocation of friendship and a determination by the recipient to resist communism.

The new premier, Fazoilah Zaedi, [Fazlollah Zahedi] has a reputation as a vigorous nationalist opposed to foreign infiltration. While he is not expected to embrace the British oil interests, at least he may be expected to resist the Communists. There is more assurance in that situation than in the situation that prevailed when Mossadegh held sway.