It begins to appear that the overthrow of Dictator Mossadegh in Iran came just in time to save that country from sliding behind the Iron Curtain.

Pravda’s loud cries of pain—blaming the United States for everything—makes pretty clear that arrangements were well under way for the Reds to take over in Tehran and hand the Kremlin a brand-new satellite. [Pravda, the Russian state propaganda arm, was the official newspaper of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]

In recent weeks the Soviets have launched a series of highly publicized moves to make “good neighbors” of Russia and Iran. A commission was set up to negotiate territorial and financial questions. The Red Tudeh Party seemed to have more and more influence with Mossadegh. And it was indicated that Russia might assume responsibility for selling Iranian oil in the world market.

Now that tidy little apple-cart has been upset. Mossadegh himself is a prisoner and faces trial. The Shah is on his way back to Tehran, and for the time being, at least, Major General Fazollah Zahedi, the new Prime Minister, seems to have everything under control. [sic—Fazlollah Zahedi]

No wonder Pravda screams that “American agents” hatched the “plot,” which was financed out of special funds appropriated by Congress, and that “orders” for the coup were “taken to Iran” by Brigadier General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, former head of the New Jersey State police. [Schwarzkopf was a key player in the coup]

After the many successful coups carried out by the Soviets in one satellite after another, we’d like to think that all this was so that we had been shrewd enough to outsmart the Reds at their own game. Indications are, however, that Iranians, fed up with their tearful tyrant, launched their own revolt against his ruthless dictatorship and now are setting their house in shape—without “orders” from us, and certainly without any from Moscow.

Despite Premier Zahedi’s eight-point program, it remains to be seen what policies will emerge under the new order. It is a nationalist regime, and thus is not likely to yield too much on the oil question. Indeed, Zahedi himself once was arrested and jailed by the British.

The important fact is that a key country of the Near East has been wrested from the closing grip of the Communist fist. Pravda’s own fury testifies that it is a score for the free world, and only time will tell how much it means to us all.

To the Editor of The Inquirer:
The highest compliment the Reds ever paid the United States was when they attributed the downfall of Iran’s weepy old Mohammed Mossadegh to direct orders from Washington. If that’s the kind of orders that are coming out of Washington now, let’s have more and more of them.

IRATE