MOSLEMS AND THE WEST -: THE CRISIS IN IRAN

Series

Series Name

The March of Time 16th Year

Issue

Issue No.

5

Date Released

1951

Length of issue (in feet)

1670

Stories in this Issue:

1. 1MOSLEMS AND THE WEST -: THE CRISIS IN IRAN

Story

Story No. within this Issue

1 / 1

Section Title

MOSLEMS AND THE WEST -

Summary

The March of Time synopsis: The film shows the extremes of wealth and poverty that exist throughout the land. Teheran’s modern government buildings are in stark contrast to the city’s open gutters that serve both as water mains and as sewers, while nearby in the teeming bazaars and slums, the majority of the people live in ignorance and filth. Throughout the isolated vilages, eighty-five per cent of Iran’s sixteen million people live on the land, chronically in debt and owning little more than the clothes they wear, for most Iranian peasants are merely tenant farmers, giving up half or even three-quarters of all they grew as rent to their landlords. Unwilling to turn back more than a small portion of their profits towards improving the soil, Iran’s wealthy landowners live in luxury, paying few taxes and investing their money abroad.
In an attempt to break down his country’s deudalism, Shah Mohammed Riza Pahlevi has turned over to his peasants thousands of acres of his own personal lands, vainly hoping that others would follow his example. Bent on giving his people a measure of progress and prosperity, the Shah has taken an interest in Iranian education and welfare. At the royal clinics the poor are treated free of charge, and a few modern schools have recently been built with some financial aid from the Crown, though four-fifths of the population are still illiterate.

Behind the crisis that flared up in the spring of 1951, says the film, lay the power and influence of the Moslem hierarchy. Though Iranians are not all strict practitioners of their faith, they believe and obey religious leaders like Mullah Kashani, who had pressed long and vigorously for nationalisation of his country’s oil. Kashani received support from all that was anti-British and anti-American, ranging from so-called "peace" organisations to the Tudeh or Communist party. Though the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company offered to increase royalties substantially, Iranian extremists pressed for immediate confiscation of the company’s holdings. Skilful dragooning by an ultra-nationalist group of eight deputies, brought the Iranian Parliament into line behind an old enemy of the British - ascetic, bitter Mohammed Mossadeq, and resulted in a unanimous vote to terminate the British tenure. Menaced by both overt and hidden forces Mossadeq, who suddenly found himself Prime Minister, moved to put his new law into effect. As tension rose, US Ambassador henry F. Grady intervened in a sincere effort to bring the Iranias and British together for negotiations, and as a result Anglo-Iranian’s Basil Jackson arrived from London with what was generally considered to be a fair offer - substantial cash payments and a promise of continued technical assistance for the Iranian owned by British managed company. But Mossadeq would have none of it and the situation seriously deteriorated. With the closing down of the great Abadan refinery, capable of daily producing more than half a million barrels of high octane petrol and other essential petroleum products, Britain stands to lose her most valuable foreign asset, and an oil-hungry world is left to speculate on how the deficiency will be overcome.

But of even greater importance to the Western democracies is the strategic advantage gained by the Russians. This new instability in Iran might easily pave the way for a Red road in the Middle East to the oil of Iraq and Arabia, to the coveted ports of the Persian Gulf, the Mediterranean and the Suez, and even to Pakistan and India. For, says the March of Time, though the Moslem World is united in a common ideal of independence at any cost, the clear and present danger lies in the ancient enemy to the North - the one imperial power which if it once took hold of a weak and troubled land would never peacefully let go.

Researcher Comments

This story was included in Vol.17 No.5 of the US edition.

Keywords

Politics and government; Social conditions; Religion and belief

Written sources

The March of Time Promotional Material   Lobby Card, Used for synopsis

Credits:

Production Co.

Time Inc.