IRAN: Time of the Assassin

The iron gates of Teheran prison opened one chilly afternoon last week and out stepped a killer, bearded fanatic Khalil Tahmassebi. Nearly two years ago he murdered Ali Razmara, Iran's ablest postwar Premier, and thus started Iran down its unhappy trail. Last week Tahmassebi was a free man, pardoned by Mossadegh's subservient Majlis and captive Shah. The young assassin promptly rushed to the Hazrat Abdolazim shrine, wept joyously and said: "When I killed Razmara, I was sure that his people would kill me."

Then he set out on a round of social calls. He dropped in for a cup of tea...