To what extent Mossadegh was working for Communist Russia nobody at the moment knows. But it was apparent that he intended to create and maintain chaos in Persia as long as he was in power. Since his imprisonment the Iranians have been trying to rebuild what he destroyed; and they have at last reached the point of victory. They have negotiated an oil agreement under which the nation will own the wells and refineries and the companies will distribute and will supply the expert personnel. This will be done, it is understood, on a 50-50 basis.

Iran has long depended on its oil to maintain its government. The $100,000,000 and more which is derived from its wells each year paid the expenses of its administration. It has been broke ever since Mossadegh drove the companies out of business. Now they’re back again and Tehran will have an income to spend. This must aggravate the Reds who were so confident Mossadegh and his confederates—whether he understood their affiliations or not—could open the door to Communist control that they were willing to delay. They didn’t want things to look like aggression. Now the Persian government has money, affiliates from the West and a new confidence. Perhaps another bulwark has been erected against the Soviets, standing just to the east of Greece and Turkey.