242. Letter From the Shah of Iran to President Johnson1
Dear Mr. President,
It is now almost three months since I had the pleasure of visiting you and your country, and I am still under the very vivid impression of your hospitality and your warm and friendly reception. I also have the best recollection of our talks and I am happy to witness the very close bonds of friendship, understanding and mutual good will which exist between our two countries.
As you know, Mr. President, we are planning for the next five years a development program, starting in March, 1968, which will bring further [Page 437] great progress in our economic life. We hope to achieve an annual nine percent increase in our Gross National Product, and we would be delighted to welcome any American firms or private individual participation in our projects, especially in the fields of petrochemicals and agriculture. I remember with pleasure having discussed with you the further development of our agriculture and the great interest you showed in the possibilities in this domain.
This would allow us to develop the agricultural resources of our country more fully, and to provide sufficient fertilizers for the production of more food and thus contribute to forestall and eliminate the danger of hunger and famine, which is one of the key problems threatening the world at large today.
We are also waiting for the America team to study water conservation, and the desalination plan, in Iran, which constitute an essential part of our development programme.
We very much expect the American Oil Companies to try to export the maximum oil they can from our country, with the full knowledge that the stability of Iran helps the maintenance of stability in the whole area, which, in turn, guarantees their oil exports from the other countries in this region as well. Your personal interest in this respect, Mr. President, would be greatly appreciated by us.
As for our military needs, we see modern, and sometimes very sophisticated weapons, pouring into some of our neighbouring countries, which compels us to take appropriate military preparedness measures. We have revised the organization of our armed forces and set ourselves a new five year plan. Since 1964 we have entered into two credit agreements with your country, each for two hundred million dollars, and also obtained credits for approximately three hundred million dollars from other sources. A rough estimate of the requirements over the next five years of military equipment for carrying out the new plan for our armed forces organization is in the order of 800 million dollars.
Although our Air Force, as planned for the future, is still weak in the number of aircraft, we hope that by getting the best and most modern equipment, and by having good and efficient pilots and maintenance, it would carry out the very heavy duty imposed upon it.
I wish the day will come when all of us will only have to think of building schools, hospitals, and homes for old people, and other essentials of civilization. We are certainly working towards that end; but before that day comes we have no other choice but to guarantee the security and independence of our sacred land and nation.
Such are the needs of my country. We would like to buy our needs in your country if your Government could offer the necessary credit arrangements.
[Page 438]I would be most grateful, Mr. President, if you would provide all we need, or at least tell us what we can expect, as we must, in the cases mentioned above, put in our orders now.
Considering the encouraging results already obtained in all branches of our economy, I lay great store in this our next five year development plan, which has been carefully drawn up in order to raise further the standard of living of the individual in my country.
I still recall with pleasure the kind words you uttered, in your address of welcome during my recent visit to Washington, concerning the progress that we, in Iran, have achieved in terms of economic prosperity. It is our firm intention to strive further in this respect.
Hoping, Mr. President, that you will give these matters your considerate attention, I express to you my heartfelt good wishes for your welfare and happiness, and success in your noble task. I seize this opportunity to convey, on behalf of the Empress and myself, our kindest regards to Mrs. Johnson.
Sincerely,
- Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Special Head of State Correspondence File, Iran, 9/1/67–12/31/67. No classification marking. The letter was delivered to the Department of State by the Iranian Embassy on November 21, according to telegram 74044 to Tehran, November 23, which transmitted the text. (Department of State, Central Files, AID (U.S.) IRAN)↩