Object Lesson
December 11, 1953 — U.S. Editorial
December 11, 1953 — U.S. Editorial
| The Mossadegh Project | November 15, 2014 |
This non-syndicated piece ran in the editorial section of newspapers across the country between around December 11, 1953 and January 4, 1954.
Relations With Iran
Diplomatic relations between Great Britain and Iran, broken off a year ago by former Premier of Iran Mohammed Mossadegh, have been reopened. This will make possible resumption of talks on the dispute over oil properties owned by the British in Iran.There have been many changes in Iran in the last year. Mossadegh had reduced the Shah to a figurehead, and, overestimating his power over the people, attempted to depose the monarch entirely. [Nope] The Shah’s popularity with the people of Iran was too great and today Mossadegh is a broken old man deemed a traitor by his countrymen.
The sooner the Iranian oil question can be settled the better off both Britain and Iran will be. Since the British were forced to evacuate Iran the poverty in Iran has increased and former markets for Iranian oil may have been lost. Getting conditions back to normal in that country will not be an easy matter.
The affair should serve as an illustration of the damage a dictator can do. Mossadegh is no longer in power but the evil effects of his absolute rule still linger to plague the men who want to rectify his mistakes.
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Related links:
Three-Year Term Gives World A Rest From Mossadegh | Buffalo Courier-Express, Dec. 1953
Iran Faces the Future | The Times Record (Troy, New York), September 2, 1953
Iran’s Nose | April 20, 1954 editorial
MOSSADEGH t-shirts — “If I sit silently, I have sinned”
