Word: abadan
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When Prime Minister Clement Attlee told the House of Commons last July that His Majesty's government would not withdraw from Abadan completely, the British lion seemed ready for an oldtime imperial roar. From Cyprus to the Persian Gulf, British paratroops, marines and warships stood by. They were ready to go into action if Iran tried to seize the Anglo-Iranian Oil Co.'s huge refinery...
...fanaticism, early last week went before the Iranian Senate and announced an ultimatum to London: he would give the British two weeks to reopen the suspended oil negotiations on Iran's old terms. Alternative: he would cancel the residence permits of 300 British technicians still hanging on at Abadan, and toss them out of the country. The Senators endorsed the Premier...
...dispossessed Anglo-Iranian Oil Co. meanwhile announced in London that it would sue oil companies who buy Iranian oil from the Teheran government. London underlined its newly tough position by sending four more destroyers to join the ten warships already cruising in the Abadan area, again hinted that it would open fire, if necessary, to hold on to the British-built, $1 billion refinery...
Behind the bargainers pressed the bedeviling antagonisms of history and nations. As Stokes explained later, "I told the Abadan staff [i.e., 2,000 Britons] I would not sell them down the river . . . They won't work except under competent British management." On his part, Mossa...
...would the next chapter read? The British put their hopes, so far as they had any, in a shock treatment for the Iranians. London ordered the withdrawal of all British technicians from the A.I.O.C. fields, packed several hundred for home, settled down the rest (about 350) at the Abadan refinery, prepared to bring in paratroops and marines to protect them if necessary...