NEW YORK: American oil companies were stated today [May 31] to have agreed to help out Britain and other European countries with petrol if oil supplies from Iran were drastically cut. The Wall Street Journal ... said a voluntary plan sponsored by the Petroleum Administration called on American oil companies operating abroad to turn more of their output over to Britain and other European countries in case this occurred.

The report said increased production in the United States and other petrol producing areas would be enough, temporarily, to make up for the loss of Iranian oil. But with defence and industrial needs increasing, the safety margin would be narrower than was at first hoped. ... Complications that might arise if Iranian supplies were cut off for very long were worrying Petroleum Administration officials. — News agencies

[Meanwhile, according to the staff correspondent in Karachi,] Legislation recognising workers’ right to organise trade unions to bargain directly “without any dictation or interference” was demanded by the Asian Regional Conference of the ICFTU at its concluding session on Thursday [May 31].

Published in Dawn, June 1st, 2026