"Queer, Sinister Things"

The Russian-occupied zone of northern Iran is about as segregated as a seraglio. Last week the London Daily Mail's Correspondent Alexander Clifford asked why and gave some reasons for asking the question. Wrote Clifford from Iran:

"This is not meant to be an attack on Russia. It is more of an open letter to the U.S.S.R. It is a plea for a frank explanation of what is going on here. Queer, sinister things have been happening here lately and the Persians are badly scared."

Some "queer" things:

P: Russian censorship. During the oil crisis (TIME, Dec. 18), the Russians held up and stopped official Iranian telegrams. Foreign correspondents' estimates of the crowds attending the demonstrations of the Russian-influenced Tudeh (Masses) Party were suppressed for being too small.

P: Russia's reluctance to quit northern Iran and her refusal to allow Iranian reinforcements to enter the Russian zone to quell rebellious tribesmen.

P: Russia's open backing of the anti-Government Tudeh Party. At Teheran's House of Russian Culture, a Tudeh member was recently permitted to make a savage attack on the Iranian Government. Nothing that happens in one part of the Near East can fail to affect the rest of that region, Russia's actions in Iran, especially taken together with her recent demands on Turkey, were important to more governments than Iran, more people than the Iranians.

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