Word: kashani
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...alleys; in the bazaar, the secret agents were everywhere. Beneath the great plane and pine trees in the Majlis gardens, long-robed deputies bargained and pledged their support. At issue: Who should sit in the speaker's chair of the Majlis? Should it be evil old Mullah Kashani, the incumbent, who would deal with anybody, including the Communists, to get power? Or should it be Premier Mossadegh's choice, a popular lawyer named Abdullah Moazzami...
...stakes were large. Said the pro-Kashani newspaper Oghab-i-Shargh: "The blood of Mossadegh, Moazzami and other enemies of freedom is now legal." The pro-Mossadegh Jebheh Azadi spat back: "Only traitors will vote for Mr. Kashani." And Kashani himself attacked Mossadegh in characteristic terms: "Such men should be hanged by the people...
...election day in the Majlis, police cordoned off the Parliament building, searched spectators for guns and knives. Servants hefted two large bronze vases into the chamber, into either of which deputies dropped their ballots. The result: Moazzami, 41; Kashani...
...vote was a setback for Kashani, but the power of the aged little fanatic has always been in the streets, rather than the Majlis. And though Mossadegh had won one more parliamentary triumph, his power is steadily being undermined by 1) the unpopularity of his attempt to oust the Shah, win control of the army and set up an unopposed dictatorship; 2) his failure to break the British blockade and sell crude oil to the outside world; 3) the attrition of the currency (the rial was 118 to the dollar last week, against 74 a year ago, 47 two years...
...that it is useless to press an oil agreement on Mossadegh, because he could not keep it if one were made. Unstable old Mossadegh stays in power by being antiforeign; for him to sign an agreement would be to surrender this source of his popularity to evil old Mullah Kashani and the Tudeh Communists. The solution, says this expert, is not to make an oil agreement in hopes of bolstering Iran's government, but first to bolster Iran's government so that it might keep whatever oil agreement it made. Nearest to a stable element in Iran...