NEWS OF THE WEEK
ISCUSSION with Dr. Moussadek has always been a slippery business in which the shifting terms of his latest pronouncement have always counted for less than the ultimate strength of his bargaining position—as he himself sees that position. Consequently there is not much point in wasting time over the internal contradictions of his reply to the Churchill-Truman offer, a reply which has now received the support of the Majlis. Dr. Moussadek is not in the least embarrassed by his own inconsistencies. He demands that compensation claims between 1933 and 1947 should be settled in accordance with the 1933 concession, regardless of his former assertions that the 1933 agreement was not legal. He demands that claims between 1948 and 1951 should be dealt with under the 1949 supplementary agreement and ignores the fact that that agreement was never ratified. As to the fact that the sum of £49 million in back royalties which he now claims, in dollars or their equivalent, is declared by the Anglo-American Oil Company to be not legally due and anyway not available—that to the Persian Prime Minister is merely an additional reason for pressing the claim. And yet, as he plays out these worth- less cards from his hand, declaring yet again that this is his last offer, he still sits with his two master trumps—his ability to carry his countrymen with him however disastrous his policy may be, and his present physical possession of the oil reserves of Persia and the plant and installations of the A.I.O.C. It goes without saying that his policy is wicked and irresponsible. But there is no sense in pretending that either side can let the matter rest here. There is clearly no future in public gestures after the Anglo-American " last " offer and Dr. Moussadek's " last " reply. Such hope as there is must lie in a new bout of private bargaining.
