391.1163 Lutheran Orient Mission/124
The Secretary of State to the Chargé in Iran ( Merriam )
Sir: Your despatch No. 835 of June 29, 1936, regarding the liquidation of the Lutheran Orient Mission at Mehabad (Saujbulak), has been received.
The Department approves of the position which you have taken in refraining from issuing a written statement with reference to the occupancy of the Mission property, and in advising the representatives of the Mission of the inability of the Legation to act as the Mission’s agent in effecting sale of its property.
As regards the statement on the third page of your despatch that “the Government was under no obligation whatever to purchase the property,” the Department is of the opinion that this is a matter which [Page 391] would require consideration only in the event that the present negotiations between the Lutheran Orient Mission and the Iranian Government should break down and the Mission be unable to find any means of disposing of the property at an equitable figure. In that event the Department would be prepared to instruct you as to its views on this point. In the meantime, you should avoid any further expression of opinion with reference to such obligations as may, or may not, have been created by the action of the Iranian authorities in closing the Mission at Saujbulak.
There is enclosed for your information a copy of a letter dated August 1, 1936, received from the Lutheran Orient Mission, Hamilton, Ohio, together with a copy of the Department’s reply.29
You are requested to keep the Department currently advised of future developments in this matter.
Very truly yours,
- Neither printed.↩