Vote Of Confidence

July 9, 1952 — The Kalgoorlie Miner


The Mossadegh Project | February 17, 2021                      


Lead and sole editorial on Iran in The Kalgoorlie Miner of Kalgoorlie, Western Australia.

Australian media archive




The Kalgoorlie Miner (Western Australia)

MOSSADEQ’S POLITICAL TRIUMPH

Just before the hearing by the International Court of Justice at The Hague of the British charge against Persia of illegal action in having nationalised the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company’s great concession in that country the Persian Prime Minister, Dr. Mohammed Mossadeq, announced his early resignation. A few days later, under pressure from Teheran, he withdrew the announcement, but after the conclusion of The Hague hearing the dynamic little lawyer formally tendered his resignation to the Shah. Under his policy of independence and nationalism, he said, Persia faced a further period of extreme austerity, and if a different policy were desired a new Government must be sought.

Dr. Mossadeq, for his fanaticism, has been aptly described as a “whirling dervish in a pin-striped suit” and, alternatively, for his honesty, “the George Washington of Iran,” has been in office for perhaps the most momentous and troublous 15 months in modern Persian history. [Refers to rhetoric in Newsweek and Time magazine] After negotiations for an amicable settlement of his country’s claim for a substantially-increased share of the profits accruing from the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company’s Persian concession had failed — despite American mediation — the oil industry was nationalised. The company’s great works were forced to close down, Persia lost the oil, royalties which had been its principal source of revenue, and many thousands of Persian employees of the company became unemployed.

It is thus, at a time when the economic situation of his country grows more desperate almost from day to day, that the Prime Minister has chosen boldly to challenge the Persian people, through their elected representatives, to express confidence in his leadership—or to find a new Government.

The result has been a personal political triumph, of a completeness which has been equalled by few statesmen in the history of self-government anywhere. The Persian Parliament met on Sunday last to fill the vacancy caused by Dr. Mossadeq’s resignation. The voting was Mossadeq 53, while two other candidates secured three votes between them.

Dr. Mossadeq thus finds himself in an immensely strong position to form a new administration and, as he put it in a broadcast a few days ago, to “continue the fight against imperialism.” “With a little more patience,” he said on that occasion, “Persia would secure the full benefit of past struggles by throwing off the chains of imperialism.”

It is notable that while the Persian leader displays some bitterness towards Britain he appears to have taken careful precautions against any possibility of Russia turning the Anglo-Iranian dispute to her own account.


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Related links:

Persian Crisis Easier? | The Kalgoorlie Miner, June 7, 1951

Has Persia Won? | The Courier-Mail (Brisbane), July 24, 1952

The Persian Dispute | The Geraldton Guardian, July 14, 1951



MOSSADEGH t-shirts — “If I sit silently, I have sinned”

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