"O, Thou Aged Traitor!"

Iran's more apoplectic nationalists do not like the way U.S. Troubleshooter W. Averell Harriman and Premier Mohammed Mossadeq got .together to try to patch up the oil crisis. Last week the nationalists accused Mossadeq of making too many concessions to resume negotiations with the British. The fanatically nationalist organization, Fedayan Islam, one of whose gunmen killed Premier AH Razmara last March, reportedly threatened Mossadeq's frail life. One day last week Mossadeq walked into the Parliament building to explain to a Senate session why he had agreed to negotiate once more. Said Mossadeq, his voice quavering and tears rolling down his cheeks: "I give the assurance that as long as I am Premier, no steps will be taken to prejudice the interests of the nation. I shall definitely relinquish office if any attempt is made to take advantage of the situation and deprive the nation of its rights."

The Senate sat in stony silence. Mossadeq hobbled out of the chamber. Next day, when he made the same statement to the lower house, a deputy shouted: "Oh, thou aged traitor!"

Mossadeq sought to keep vague and veiled just what concessions he had made. But London let some of the terms slip. Mossadeq had insisted that the original Iranian oil nationalization law be accepted by the British in its general terms, without reservation; but he abandoned, temporarily at least, his insistence on the second law, which spells out in nine tough points exactly how nationalization is to be accomplished. Some of the points: Anglo-Iranian to be taken over "immediately"; Anglo-Iranian to pay Iran an extra sum for all the oil it took out of the ground after March 21; the new "National Oil Company" to be operated exclusively by Iranians.

At week's end, Britain's Lord Privy Seal and new oil negotiator, Richard Stokes, flew into Teheran with four assistants. His government has already expressed its sympathy with Iranian aspirations, but Stokes and Mossadeq will have to agree on: 1) a scheme for joint British-Iranian companies to refine and market the oil; 2) away to split the profits.

As his first official move, Stokes lunched at the royal palace, presented the Shah and his consort with overflowing baskets of gladioli, orchids, fruit brought from Britain; Teheran papers promptly saw a favorable omen for the talks. This week, Stokes, who glories in the role of a hardhitting, U.S.-type businessman, will sit down at the conference table with the Iranians. Hovering in the background, ready with soothing words and compromise suggestions, is the one hero of the crisis: tireless W. Averell Harriman. His performance so far: excellent.

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