MIDDLE WAY SOUGHT

Press, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 26538, 28 September 1951, Page 7

MIDDLE WAY SOUGHT

Courses Open To Britain fflec. 11.55 p.m.) WASHINGTON, September 27. The United States and Britain are tttkinj a middle -way oat ot the British and Persian oil crisis, says the diplomatic correspondent of the Associated Press. Mr Attlee in a personal appeal to Mr Truman yesterday sought American co-operation in some action which would avoid forcible action or the withdrawal of the British oil technicians from Persia. But Mr Attlee also sought American approval of the use of force if Britain thought it necessary, reports the correspondent. Diplomatic informants sum up the extreme alternatives now before the British Government as being either to walk in or to walk out. Since the beginning of the oil crisis a few months ago the American Government has taken the line that the major objective was to keep Persian oil flowing to the European markets which it normally served. The United States has also been deeply concerned to prevent any outbreak of violence or the use of force which might give the Russians the excuse to march into Persia or to create political conditions in which the Communists could take over.

The correspondent says that the showdown which has now developed is the very sort of situation Washington has tried to avert

One hope to which the British have clung is that Dr. Mussadiq's Government might be overturned, but American officials apparently see little prospect that this will happen in the immediate future.