Chaos in the Sun

In Teheran Premier Mossadegh told the nation it must choose between him and that "hotbed of wrecking operations," the Majlis. The opposition met in Mullah Kashani's garden to protest, and got into a knife fight (one killed, scores hurt). But these stirring events did not arouse southern Iranians to their customary passion. The reason: it was 120° in the shade, 181° in the sun.

The heat, Iran's worst in 60 years, came in with a terrible wind called "sharji." Soon the asphalt of the sidewalks was melting in the sun. In Abadan and Khorramshahr, all shops closed down, and the oil company's air-conditioning system would not work because the water warmed too quickly in the condenser. Abadan's two ice plants (capacity: 70 tons a day) could not meet the demand as smugglers shipped heavy loads out to oil-rich Kuwait and Qatar. In ten days, Iran's heat wave killed 158 people.