Cutting the Oil Cake
Dr. Moussadek has duly secured his vote of confidence from the Mejlis, but in this connection " confidence " is the wrong word to use for the Persian people's sentiments towards their Prime Minister. Affection, no doubt, they still feel ; sympathy too. But unless a loan from America is granted nobody can have much confidence that Dr. Moussadek will be able to survive for long, or that he will be able to keep Persia's head above water. No doubt Dr. Moussadek, in his struggle for survival, Will make the most of the report of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Com- pany for 1950, which has just been published. He can quote to an ignorant audience the £115m. of gross profit against the £16m. Which went to the Persian Government in royalties, and con- veniently ignore the fact that the dividends on preference and ordinary shares amounted to just over Elm. It is true that the company's profits are derived, not only from the wells and refineries of south-west Persia, but from drilling, refining and trading activities in many other countries. It is true that the Persians could have had a much bigger slice of the profits— £33m., roughly equal td the company's net profit after tax—if they had accepted the supplemental agreement of 1948 or Mr. Stokes's offer this summer. But it is also true that the British Treasury receives, by taxation and as a shareholder, the lion's share of the company's profits. The real fault . all along has been not so much the terms which the company has offered the Persian Government, as the manner in which they have been offered. Concessions have come too late, and they have never been properly explained to the Persian public. " In deference," says Sir William Fraser, " to the susceptibilities of the Persian Government, no steps were taken by the company to explain the supplemental agreement in Iran," the result being that " there were few who were ready to be receptive to a factual appraisal of the agreement." It would be interesting to know what steps have been taken to explain the real significance of the company's latest report, as there are even fewer Persians today who are ready for factual appraisals,
Previous page
