740.0011 European War 1939/14453: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Steinhardt) to the Secretary of State5
[Received August 28—9:55 a.m.]
1587.
“Moscow, August 26, 1941
I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the note of the Soviet Government dated August 25, 1941.
The Government and the people of Iran have always held feelings of the most sincere friendship toward the Government and the peoples of the Soviet Union.
The relations of friendship and good neighborhood between the two countries have always found their expression in the actions and the acts of the two Governments.
Iran has always highly appreciated and appreciates the sincere fraternal and friendly policy of the Soviet Republic, a policy which has found its outward expression in the moral and material support at the most difficult times of its political life. The divers circumstances enumerated in the note which have occurred in the friendly relations between the two countries correspond entirely to the reality both as to the point of view of places and of times.
The development of mutual friendly relations between Iran and the Soviet Union has been founded on the basis of mutual understanding and confidence.
Article VI of the Soviet-Iranian Treaty of 1922 [1921] is a proof of the mutual confidence of the two Governments and of the peoples of Iran and of the Soviet Union, and that article presents in principle a guarantee of the territorial inviolability of Iran.
The circumstances foreseen by article VI of said treaty are specified by its spirit and by its text. Thus until August 25, 1941, no armed forces of a foreign country have attempted by armed invasion to carry out on the territory of Iran a policy of conquest or to transform the territory of Iran into a base from which to launch a campaign against the Soviet Union. Iran, being a neutral power and a friend of the Soviet Union, has taken all measures to keep without the bounds of Iran the dangers which could have been created, according to the definition of the note which has been handed me, by certain foreign elements now in Iran whose activity has been judged by the Soviet Government as menace to the interests of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and of Great Britain.
[Page 430]The representations of the Soviet Government of June 26, July 19 and August 16 had the purpose of directing the attention of the Iranian Government to the situation created and constituted a preliminary step to the formal warning of August 6, 1941. The Government of Iran, notwithstanding the nonconformity of the forms of these representations with the diplomatic relations customary between sovereign states, urgently took effective and extraordinary measures in view of the friendly relations with the Soviet Union, measures which without doubt would have given results satisfactory to the two countries.
By the careful study of all measures taken by the Government of Iran, I have personally arrived at the conclusion that on September 15, 1941, the last contingency of dangerous persons from the point of view of the Soviet Union would have left the boundaries of Iran.
It is to be regretted that the Soviet Government has not awaited the results of effective and urgent measures by the Iranian Government taken in conformity with its status as a neutral power.
The assurances of respect for the sovereign rights of neutral Iran, its territorial integrity, its inviolability and its independence have been given by the Soviet Union and by Great Britain and the Government of Iran has had entire confidence in these assurances. In view of the preceding as Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Iran, Mr. People’s Commissar, I beg you to be so good as to stop the advance of armed forces on the territory of Iran with a view to an amicable settlement of the question and by respect for the sovereign rights and neutrality of Iran to make possible the reasonable carrying out of the measures taken by the Government to expel from Iran the foreigners designated in the note of August 25th in the shortest time possible.
At the same time having full confidence in the assurances of the Soviet Government that the Soviet troops will be withdrawn from Iran after overcoming the danger I beg you in return for the expelling from the territory of Iran of the foreigners dangerous to the Soviet Union and Great Britain to take measures to the end that the units of the Red Army be recalled to the frontier of the Soviet Union where they may have passed the frontiers of Iran with as little delay as possible and to suspend contact with Iranian troops which defended the inviolability of their territory.
Making a record of my personal disagreement expressed above with respect to the incorrect interpretation of article VI of the Treaty of Friendship of 1921 and my protest against the temporary entry of Soviet troops into the territory of Iran, I have the honor to assure you, Mr. People’s Commissar, that in the event that the sovereign rights, inviolability, and territorial independence of the territory of Iran are fully respected my Government will take all measures in [Page 431] this case to reinforce the friendly and economic relations between Iran and the Soviet Union.
I avail myself of this occasion, Mr. People’s Commissar, etc. Signed: M. Saed, Iranian Ambassador”
- This telegram transmits the translation of the Iranian note referred to in last paragraph of the Ambassador’s telegram No. 1586, supra.↩