“Several days ago,” according to James C. Hagerty, White House press secretary, Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlevi, of Iran, received the congratulations of President Eisenhower on his “happy return” to his country after the bloody repulse of the Mossadegh regime. Whether the President’s greetings came before or after the triumphant Shah announced to the world that his country was broke and needed money “in the next few days” remained in doubt. [after — Ambassador Loy Henderson delivered the note on August 27th]

Asked if he would accept Russian money, the outspoken young monarch replied, “We are ready to accept help from anybody.” Thus, we judge that practically everybody, meaning us and the Commies, are ready and anxious to provide for his needs. [Why would the Soviets want to fund the anti-Communist Shah?]

There will be no concessions given for such help, says the Shah. But he should realize by now that somebody had better crank up his oil industry—and he can’t. We tried to arbitrate Mossy’s fight with the British oil barons whom he threw out. Maybe we can do better with the Shah, now that he’s had a bit of a scare.

You could read this into the conclusion of the Eisenhower message: “ . . . my continuing good wishes for every success in your efforts to promote the prosperity of your people and to preserve the independence of Iran.”

But before we stuff our money under the palace door, maybe we’d better have an IOU from London.