740.0011 European War 1939/14585
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Secretary of State
The Minister of Iran called at his request. He said he desired to get before me the contention of his Government to the effect that in the present war going on in Europe his country is neutral; that it is entitled to live peacefully, free from outside interference or intervention with respect to the autonomy, the liberty and the independence of his country; that despite this right to so live, British and Soviet forces for the purpose of aggression and in pursuit of that policy have recently invaded Iran; that in doing so the Soviet forces have bombed some undefended cities and towns and have killed some of the civilian population where there was no military establishment of any kind; and that, therefore, they appeal to this country to carry out its preachments of the eight principles7 underlying peaceful and free nations and to take any possible steps to aid Iran in securing relief from military occupation.
[Page 432]I replied that I had nothing to say now except that I was assembling the pertinent facts relating to the entire matter, including the opposing viewpoints, in part at least, of the Government of Iran on the one side and of the British and the Soviet Governments on the other; that it would not be possible to discuss the matter intelligently until such facts were assembled; that I commenced to assemble them as soon as I was notified of the incident referred to and that my Government in this case did not have the pertinent and relevant facts in its possession prior to the occupation of Iran by military forces during the past few days. Then I said that it would have been much better from his standpoint if his Government had come to us many days ago and stated to us that Europe, of course, was being overrun by Hitler, and his movements of conquest will continue until some military force stops him and that certain countries such as Great Britain and Russia were defending themselves against attacks by Hitler in pursuance of his movements and plans of military conquest and destruction generally; that either of these opposing military forces may seek to prevent the other from overrunning peaceful neutral countries in connection with the general fighting that is going on, and, therefore, they desire to confer with third countries in sufficient time in advance of any possible military occupation to have the whole situation dealt with to the best possible advantage from the standpoint of the Government of Iran and that of other interested governments. This was no criticism but merely illustrates the extreme importance of every country visualizing the entire breadth and depth of what is happening in Europe, especially in a military way, so that every possible precaution can be taken by innocent neutral countries against being seized and destroyed by an aggressor as, for example, Hitler in his seizure and destruction largely of some fifteen sovereign independent nations in Europe. I said it was evident that he will occupy all of the European and other continents of the world unless he is stopped by military force and that it was well for all to recognize this fact in looking out for their own protection from outside conquest; that everyone knows that Hitler is bent on the conquest of the world and the control of the high seas; that it will be as suicidal as it was for Belgium, Holland and other countries that have been swallowed up by Hitler not to take into view and into consideration this whole movement of conquest and destruction in almost every way known to savagery and barbarism.
The Minister sought to come back each time to the ex parte or unilateral view of himself and presumably of his Government that, without regard to whether they recognized the broad situation and took steps in ample time to deal adequately with it from the standpoint of preserving their sovereignty and independence, they had been interfered with by the British and the Soviet forces and that this Government, as a champion of the rights and sovereignty of small nations [Page 433] and of the principles which underlie world order under law, should have something done about the matter without delay.
I frequently reiterated to the Minister that this Government as an ancient friend of Iran was deeply sorry to learn about their present difficulties; that we are spending thirty to fifty billions of dollars just as one item in our broad movement of direct military aid to nations both large and small that have been attacked by the worst despot and human fiend within the history of the human race and that even though all other countries may fail or fall by the wayside, this country will be found to the very end dedicating all of its strength and its resources in defense of the basic principles of liberty, independence, nonintervention, law, justice and morality, wherever any aggressor like Hitler continues to conquer and destroy them. I again repeated that I had nothing to say at present about the situation in Iran except that we were getting the facts.
The Minister became more quiet and composed and expressed more appreciation of the broader view which I had sought to get before him. I said to the Minister that my Government recognizes the broad view of the situation and the significance of Hitler’s movement to conquer all of Europe and seize persons and property; that this would include Iran particularly on account of her oil supply as much as it did Belgium or Norway, as well as the remaining free countries in the continents of Asia and Europe, and that I hoped his country would take the same broad view in appraising the situation. I said that I must be frank to say that my country has no notion of sitting still and listening to the siren voice of Hitler discussing the merits of neutrality while he conquers all other areas and gets around to the point of attacking us just as he has some fifteen countries in Europe. I said I must warn Iran against Hitler’s stealthy approach, which is always based on a pledge of his supposed honor that he would not for the world attack a neutral country.
- Principles of the Atlantic Charter, printed in vol. i, p. 367.↩