611.9131/115: Telegram

The Chargé in Iran (Engert) to the Secretary of State

85. I called on the Prime Minister this afternoon and communicated to him the gist of your 46, April 20. He is very grateful for the interest the Department is taking and hopes that the efforts now being made will soon bear fruit and prove of mutual advantage to both countries.

With respect to the proposed trade agreement he assures me that he instructed both the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Commerce last February and once or twice since then to start preliminary discussions immediately and he cannot understand why it has not been done. I informed him that all I had heard was that the Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs had been designated to interest himself in the matter and I suggested that it might perhaps be useful if an official of the Ministry of Commerce could be associated with him. The Prime Minister agreed and said he would see what could be done.

Engert