The Oil Runners
Although the oil lost in Persia has been rapidly made good to the West from other sources it is to nobody's interest that Persia's wells and refineries should remain indefinitely idle. The hearings before the International Court of Justice at The Hague give no prospect of a quick resumption of the Persian industry along legal lines, and it is not surprising that a group of speculators should be trying to deliver a test cargo of oil which, in the eyes of Britain and most other Govern- ments, can only be regarded as contraband. The legal merits of the case are clear. The oil comes from the wells of the expropriated British company. , (Even if, as has been suggested. 11 comes from freshly dug wells, which seems on the face of it highly improbable, they could hardly be outside the area of the A.I.O.C.s concession.) The attempt to dispose of Persian oil in European markets is against the ruling of the Inter- national. Court of Justice given last July, which virtually en- joined both the British and Persian Governments to observe the status quo. It now looks as though the question of the legal ownership of the oil will come before the British courts at the same moment that the International Court of Justice is hearing another aspect of the case. The authority of the British and International courts do not overlap, and in both cases there is the prospect of protracted legislation. The hearings now being held at the Hague are only to decide the competence of the Court to judge the dispute at all and,\ if the Court decides that it is competent, the question will remain sub ludice for many months. From the Persian point of view there is very little profit to be gained from oil-running. To sell small quantities of crude oil at cut prices will do nothing to replace the revenue lost from selling refined oil at world prices. The victory that Persia would win if the trial oil cargo got through would be a barren victory, like the victory won by expelling British technicians from Abadan. And Persia cannot carry on much longer on psychological triumphs.
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