NEWS OF THE WEEK T HE economic restrictions imposed on Persia
this week by the British Treasury are undoubtedly justified. Many more stringent measures will have to be adopted to rectify the loss of dollars that the drying-up of Persian oil will cause this country, and it is only reasonable that the first saving should be made by withdrawing the financial privileges which have hitherto been extended to Persia. The British action is naturally being interpreted in Tehran simply as an assault on the Government of Dr. Moussadek, and it is certainly true that it would have been deferred if there had been any chance of reach- ing an agreement with him. That hope has now been finally abandoned, and the British Government is apparently prepared to accept all the risks involved in the policy of waiting for Dr. Moussadek's downfall. These include not only the risk which Dr. Moussadek himself has so often pointed out—that after him will come the Communist deluge—but also the risk that some other non-Communist Prime Minister who succeeded might feel obliged to prove his patriotism by insisting on just as uncompromising terms for an oil agreement as those laid down by his predecessor. There is also the risk, and this is perhaps the most likely of them all to be realised, that Dr. Moussadek will not fall ; that he will survive, indispensable as the symbol of nationalism, and that somehow he will be able to produce a token trickle of oil from the wells, and even from the refineries. It is at best, therefore, a gamble to assume that a period of privation will lead the Persians to reason. Mean- while, Mr. Harriman has to decide what to do with the ulti- matum to Britain which has rather singularly been sent to him at Washington rather than to the British Government. Oppor- tunely enough, he and Mr. Morrison happen to be in the same place at the same time, and their views are not likely to differ materially. No immediate action is called for. But if the Persians show signs of evicting the Anglo-Iranian staff at Abadan by force action may be needed very promptly.
