LONDON: The Anglo-Iranian Oil Company said on Friday [June 30] it would close down its entire operations in Iran within next 10 days. Mr Basil R. Jackson, General-Director of the firm which was nationalised by Iran, said there was no chance for a settlement of the current oil dispute as long as Dr Mohammed Mossadeq is Iran’s Premier. The Company’s announcement said the British employees in Iran oil field were being summoned into the great refinery port of Abadan in preparation for shutting down of operations.

Mr Jackson said at a luncheon of American newspaper correspondents in London he believed the outcome of the crisis would be a complete stoppage of the entire Iranian flow of oil 31,750,000 tons last year.

The Anglo-Iranian Company said its workers would remain in Abadan for the time being but would be removed hastily if lives were threatened. The British Foreign Secretary, Mr Herbert Morrison, said … the Iranian oil may stop flowing soon for the lack of tankers to carry it. … He called on them “to remain together” and said their safety was the Government’s first consideration. — News agencies

Published in Dawn, July 1st, 2026