There’s no guarantee that the Iranian situation will stay put for any length of time. But at this moment, it looks a bit better for the West and a bit worse for Moscow.

Premier Mohammed (Willie the Weeper) Mossadegh has been given real cause for tears by being blown out of power in a military coup which restored the rule of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlevi, at least for the time being. [Mohammad Reza Pahlavi]

So the Communists, with whom Mossy was playing ball, have lost this round. Unless the Shah’s government moves fast, however, Russia may just possibly see fit to send troops into Iran to “protect” the oil-soaked little country. [They don’t explain how he was “playing ball” with the Tudeh Party, because they had nothing.]

The Shah’s best hope of averting such calamity to his nation would seem to lie in patching up Iran’s longstanding oil dispute with Great Britain as soon as he can. That would make England once more a sort of unofficial ally or protector of Iran, for what such protection is worth nowadays.

We hope the Shah can accomplish these things. Whatever one may think of England or Iran, a Russian grab of Iran’s oil would mean a dangerous addition to Moscow’s stock of the raw materials of war.