TEHERAN: The Iranian Government today [June 20] ordered its own men into direct control of the great Anglo-Iranian Oil Company’s installations and directed that all revenue be paid into the Melli (National) Bank accounts. Dr Mossadeq, propped up in bed and surrounded by Ministers and advisers ordered that instructions from the Company’s officials be considered invalid and appointed representatives to take over all the firms, installations and sales departments in Iran.

Meanwhile reports from Fayid, (Suez Canal Zone) said Royal Air Force stations throughout the Middle East had been alerted following the breakdown in the Anglo-Iranian oil talks. Transport and jet fighter bomber squadrons are standing by in Habbaniya (Iraq), Mafraq (Jordan), Fayid (Canal Zone), Nicosia (Cyprus) and in Malta and Aden, observers said in Fayid.

A spokesman at the headquarters of the British Middle East Land Forces said in Fayid today that “all steps to protect British lives and property in Persia have been taken” … but observers are inclined to believe that the British 16th Airborne Parachute troops … in Cyprus would go into action only as a last resort. — News agencies

Published in Dawn, June 21st, 2026