Oil Politics in Persia
Relations between this country and Persia are poor and are unlikely to improve markedly before the signature of a new oil agreement. Until that is out of the way there will inevitably be a good deal of manoeuvring for position ; a new concession, on favourable terms, is essential to Persia's livelihood, but neither the Shah nor any political leader can risk the accusation that he is prepared to screw less than the maximum out of the Anglo-Iranian oil company. As Persia is now in the throes of a General Election there is bound to be a certain amount of competitive nationalism, and a good example of the xenophobic form which nationalism in the East is always liable to take is the recent decree curtailing the activities of foreign cultural societies, which in future are to be more or less confined to the capital and to the teaching of foreign languages. This decree will reduce the activities of the British Council almost to nothing, which is a pity for all concerned, since the Council has, In the last ten years, done much good work of a varied nature in the provinces. It might be possible to link up this discriminatory decree with the recent appointment as Director of Press and Propaganda of a man who, during the war, was Persian announcer on Berlin radio, but it is more likely to be simply part of the elaborate game of bluff which Shah, politicians and oil company must go through before they can finally agree on the terms of the new concession. The Shah himself is due to visit America shortly, and while there he will have the opportunity to discuss the ambitiot4 seven-year development plan for his country which has been prepared by a group-of industrial and engineering consultants. Th plan is a splendid one, and would transform Persia. But it would cost about 65o million dollars. And where would the money come from—except, of course, from oil royalties ?
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