DESPITE THE FACT that results of the recent royalist uprising in Iran have not been fully appreciated, it is safe to conclude that the Western world has gained by the removal of Premier Mohammed Mossadegh.

Mossadegh, whether he courted them or not, had the almost solid support of the Communists in Iran, and had he remained in power, the Communists would have had a claim on his political fortunes. [both highly inaccurate and presumptuous] On the other hand, the forces of the Shah, who overthrew the Mossadegh government, openly fought the Communists and even burned the equipment of a Communist newspaper in Teheran.

The triumphant return of Shah Mohammed Riza Pahlevi demonstrated clearly the mood of the people in Teheran—a strong sentiment in favor of the royalist system, and cooperation with the West. [Mohammad Reza Pahlavi] It is significant that, shortly after the Shah’s arrival, anti-Western outbursts in Iran slackened appreciably. This leads some observers to conclude that the Shah, who is in desperate need of financial aid, will find some way to settle his country’s dispute with Great Britain.

If that dispute, concerning the British oil concessions in Iran, is settled, and the Iranian economy stabilized once again, one of the world’s danger spots will have been eliminated and an opportunity for Communist exploitation removed from the southern border of the U.S.S.R. [President Eisenhower expressed this precise sentiment in his diary a month later]