The Communists may be the real beneficiaries of the latest developments in Iran. An abortive plot to challenge Premier Mossadegh’s power has been put down and Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlevi has fled the country. Mossadegh, whose dictatorial control can be disputed now only by the Army, is an unstable and unpredictable personality.

Throughout the long crisis with Britain over oil, Mossadegh has behaved like a zealot and an eccentric. Beneath, there is undoubtedly a shrewd politician, of a demagogic type, and a practical mind which knows how to have one’s own secret police and when to use it. The really frightening aspect of Mossadegh’s character is that he appears willing to go to any extreme once he gets his head set, heedless of consequences. The Shah has been a stabilizing influence and an influence in support of government by the people. [Who voted for him?]

Left to his own devices, and to the devices of the Communists who seek to pull the strings, Mossadegh is capable of no one knows how much mischief.

The more chaotic Mossadegh makes conditions in Iran, the better chance the Soviet Union will have of drawing that unfortunate country behind the Iron Curtain. The delicate task of the United States, and of the U.N., now is to try to get the Premier to listen to the counsels of moderation, with the further long-run hope that Iranian moderates will be able to bring to bear some new counter-balance to Mossadegh and to the Communists who would like to use him.