701.9111/555: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Chargé in Iran (Merriam)
26. Department’s 25, May 18, 6 p.m. and your 35, May 19, 5 p.m. Unless you perceive some objection, the Department wishes you to address, with appropriate salutation and subscription, the following personal letter to the Foreign Minister:
“Your Excellency will recall that I informed you last Tuesday, May 19, of the statement made to me orally by the Chief of the Third Political Division in connection with certain recent items in the American press and that I requested you to be so good as to furnish me with a statement in writing of the intentions of the Iranian Government.
I feel sure Your Excellency will appreciate the heavy responsibility that rests upon me in interpreting in all clarity to my Government the exact position of your Government in this matter.
To this end and to avoid any misunderstanding that might have far reaching consequences, I venture, as a sincere friend of your country, to address you thus personally in order to reiterate the importance which I feel sure my Government attaches to the receipt of the requested statement in writing.”
For your confidential information, the Department’s purpose in suggesting this particular means of communication is two-fold: (1) to make it more difficult for the Foreign Minister to evade the Department’s request while (2) presumably affording him a convenient means of avoiding the necessity of making your communication a part of the official Iranian record.
It is suggested that your letter, if dispatched, be accompanied by a Persian translation carefully prepared by the Legation Interpreter and checked by yourself. You will of course refrain from acquainting the Interpreter with the origin of the letter.
Please continue to keep the Department promptly informed by telegraph of all important developments.