"Commies Demanding Recognition in Iran"
May 8, 1951 — The Associated Press
May 8, 1951 — The Associated Press
| The Mossadegh Project | July 21, 2014 |
Other headlines for this wire article included:
Reds Warn Iran On Ban; Ask Appeal
Iran Communists Demand Premier Lift Party Ban
Iran Reds Ask Mission to Leave
Reds Insist Iran Oust U.S. Mission — U.S.-Owned Oil Firm Also Target of Attack
Britain Asks Iran to Name Oil Arbitrator
Reds Make Demands on Iran Premier — Want U.S. Military Mission Expelled
COMMUNISTS CALL ON IRANIAN PREMIER
TO LIFT RED PARTY BAN
TEHRAN, Iran, May 8—(AP)—The underground Tudeh Communist party sent an open letter today to Premier F. Mohammed Mossadegh, [sic] demanding that the government ban on the Red party be repealed and that the American military mission advising the Iranian army be expelled.
There have been increasing reports in government circles that the new Premier favors legalizing the Tudeh Party, so its activities can be brought into the open.
The Tudeh Party letter also demanded:
1. Recognition of Communist China.
2. Rejection of foreign arms aid.
3. Release of political prisoners.
4. An end to the martial law in the southern oil fields.
5. Nationalization of the Bahrein Islands oil fields. The Bahrein Islands, [Bahrain] in the Persian Gulf, are claimed by Iran. The islands are a British protectorate, and Britain insists they make up an independent shiekdom with special treaty relations with London.
The Bahrein Petroleum Company is part of an organization owned by the Standard Oil Company of California and the Texas Corporation. The company holds the only concession on the islands, whose oil output in 1947 was 10,000,000 barrels. Although registered as a British company in Canada, the concession is American-owned and represents a large capital investment.
The Premier, meanwhile, has received a request from the Anglo-lranian Oil Company, sole concessionaire in Iran until nationalization, to appoint an arbitrator to settle the Iranian-British dispute over the Nationalization Law under which the great oil fields in Iran were taken over.
The move by the company, British government controlled, was regarded by Iranian government officials as simply a legal formality, since Mossadegh frequently has said Iran has the sovereign right to cancel the concession without arbitration.
A letter from the company chairman, Sir William Frazer, [sic—William Fraser] announced that Anglo-Iranian had appointed Lord Radcliffe [Cyril Radcliffe] as its arbritrator and asked Iran to make its own appointment as provided under the terms of the oil concession.
The concession under which the British operated the oil company had set forth that if Iran failed to appoint an arbitrator, in the event of dispute, within 60 days of the request, the company could ask the president of the International Court to do so. However, Iranians regard the concession terms as scrapped by the nationalization law just passed.
British diplomats expressed little expectation that Mossadegh would appoint an Iranian arbitrator.
The Majlis, lower house of parliament, failed today to agree on the selection of five deputies to serve on a joint parliamentary board authorized by the nationalization law to supervise the oil company. In a closed session, the Majlis asked the parliamentary oil commission to nominate the five, but the commission announced it could not agree and handed the problem back to the house. Discussion is set for Sunday.
In a speech to the Majlis, Mossadegh said he agreed to take the premiership and pushed through the nationalization law in three days because he had learned of a plot to dissolve parliament in an attempt to block oil nationalization. He did not refer directly to the shah, but under Iran’s constitution, only the shah can dissolve parliament.
Related links:
Adding Insult To Injury — May 26, 1951
Reds Shout Demands For Soviet Rule — August 18, 1953 (UPI)
Anti-Mossadegh Leaders Contuinue Sitdown — AP, December 16, 1951
MOSSADEGH t-shirts — “If I sit silently, I have sinned”
