71. Memorandum From the Assistant Legal Adviser for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs (Wehmeyer) to the Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs (Talbot)1
SUBJECT
- Secretary’s Call on Senator McClellan re Gudarzian
The Secretary called on Senator McClellan on March 24, accompanied by the Attorney General, Mr. Kearney, and Mr. Rostal of the Department of Justice.2 The Secretary and the Attorney General outlined the nature of the problem from the standpoint of the two agencies.
Senator McClellan indicated that he recognized that Gudarzian was making false statements regarding the AID program. He indicated that he was disposed to set further hearings on the subject of the Gudarzian allegations and to pose questions to Gudarzian which would result in his either committing perjury or withdrawing the charges. Unfortunately, insofar as timing is concerned, the Senator indicated that his committee has just received additional “documentation” from Gudarzian with respect to certain charges and this material has not been checked out. The Senator indicated that he would like to have someone from the Justice Department and the State Department work with members of his staff in reviewing this material. (Mr. Saridakis (IGA) and Mr. Wehmeyer are meeting with members of the committee staff and a representative of the Department of Justice at 10:00 a.m. Thursday to examine the “new material”.)3
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, POL 15–1 IRAN. Confidential.↩
- On March 8 Talbot sent a memorandum to the Secretary suggesting that there was now a good chance that Senator McClellan, if approached carefully on the subject, might be willing to make a public statement to the effect that his investigation of Gudarzian’s charges of corruption in U.S. aid to Iran had been completed and the charges found to be false. He noted such an action would be of immense value in meeting the understandable Iranian dismay over the Gudarzian affair and would create a better atmosphere for the Secretary’s talks with the Shah and other Iranian officials during the CENTO Ministerial Council meeting in Tehran in April. (Ibid.)↩
- Presumably April 1. Telegram 888 to Tehran, April 5, informed the Embassy that Senator McClellan had announced in the Senate that day that the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations had made exhaustive inquiries into Gudarzian’s allegations that there had been a large-scale diversion of U.S. aid funds intended for Iran and had discovered no evidence substantiating the truthfulness of those charges. On the contrary, the preponderance of the evidence pointed to their deceptiveness and falsity, and a complete transcript of the hearings had been turned over to the Department of Justice for its determination as to whether there had been any violation of Federal law and for appropriate action. (Ibid.)↩