And Khomeini is the archon of the oilfields
At the behest of Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini, 37,000 militant Iranian oil workers and technicians had virtually closed down the country's production, reducing the oil flow from 6 million bbl. a day to a drip of 75,000 bbl. Last week, as if to demonstrate his absolute mastery, Khomeini ordered workers to allow enough crude production from the fields to satisfy Iran's 900,000-bbl. domestic needs—but no more. TIME Correspondent Dean Brelis visited the oilfields in the southern province of Khuzestan as militant workers returned to their jobs. His report:
Khuzestan is a land of extreme contrasts. Shepherds patrol its rocky bluffs; shrouded women kneel at the banks of mountain streams, pounding their laundry in the frigid waters. Across this primitive scene, an aluminum pipeline traces its course like a splinter of light across the land, eventually becoming part of the maze of an oil refinery. Today in Khuzestan, ancient faith and modern wealth have blended into an irresistible political force. It has emasculated what is left of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi's influence and placed Khuzestan's wealth of oil and natural gas in the hands of one man: Ayatullah Khomeini. "Now we are a power," declared one strike leader. "We fought for it with the message of Khomeini in our hearts. We will restore the Koran and Islam to the oilfields. We will not give up the oil of Khuzestan." Says I. Amraie, district manager of the National Iranian Oil Co. (NIOC) in Ahwaz: "The Khomeini workers dominate every aspect of the business. The future is now in Khomeini's hands. He is the boss."
In other words, the country's bounteous oilfields have now been Islamized. The 39 oil wells in the Khuzestan area, the modern refinery (the world's largest) at Abadan, the depots, pipelines and innumerable areas where drilling and exploration formerly went on, all belong to Khomeini loyalists. The mullah has become the archon of the oilfields. His picture is everywhere.
The mullah's power was vividly demonstrated last week when one of his personal spokesmen, Mehdi Bazargan, 61, traveled to Khuzestan to relay Khomeini's back-to-work order. Bazargan was welcomed in regal style. Wherever he went, he was protected by burly oil workers who muzzled and bodily removed hecklers from his audiences. Local mullahs appeared constantly at Bazargan's side. "I have not come here as a strikebreaker," said Bazargan unnecessarily, since fealty and brute force had given him the most receptive of audiences.
For weeks, rumors circulated in Tehran that Communist sympathizers had taken over the oilfields. The concerns were understandable, but false. The Tudeh (Masses) Party, Iran's Communist-oriented, outlawed dissident movement, is impotent in Khuzestan. "If there are 5,000 Communists down here, that's a lot," said a Khomeini militant. "They are nothing."