Persian Oil Deal ?
The stopping of the flow of oil from Persia has always looked like an outrage against nature, and in particular against the nature of the American oil companies. It has always been difficult to believe that the United States State Department could go on indefinitely restraining the thirst of the companies for cheap oil and at the same time trying to sympathise with the desire of the British Government and the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company to force the Persian Government into more reasonable and righteous ways. And now at last it is becoming clear to all that the State Department, with the eager co-operation of the Defence Department, is positively anxious to help the larger American oil companies to do a deal with the A.I.O.C.—so anxious that they are even willing to face a battle with the Department of Justice, which argues, with some force, that such deals are contrary to the American anti-trust laws. It is a pity that this cat was not let out of the bag a little sooner. For as recently as December 10th, Mr. Acheson described as " highly speculative " a report of such a deal which appeared in the New York Journal of Commerce, and which turns out to have been rather near the mark. And the State Department's announcement of December 6th that companies trying to get small shipments of oil out of Persia would have to face any legal difficulties alone turns out to have been, although true, somewhat beside the main point. But the barriers to the resumption of exports are still very high. There is no sign that the Persian Government is ready to co-operate with a new international oil cartel. It is not easy to see how the United States Government is going to break through its own anti-trust laws: It is very difficult to believe that the Persian Government will suddenly decide to satisfy the A.I.O.C.'s claim for compensation for the loss of its pro- perty. But it is reasonable to believe that the attempt to break all these barriers will, and should, go on.
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