740.0011 European War 1939/14463: Telegram

The Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Winant) to the Secretary of State

3925. My 3918, August 28, 1 p.m. The Foreign Office has emphasized orally the extremely vague and unsatisfactory nature of the Iranian Government’s written reply of August 21 to the British memorandum of August 16. The written reply was even more evasive and unsatisfactory than the oral statements which had been made by Iranian officials in the interval before the receipt of the note. The British, therefore, felt that the situation was too critical and dangerous for them to delay together with the Russians any longer in taking such measures as they considered necessary to forestall German action. The Foreign Office is satisfied from its own sources of information that the number of dangerous Germans in Iran is somewhere between 1,000 and 3,000. It was stated that this estimate comes from British sources and has been entirely uninfluenced by Russian estimates of the numbers which are said to be greater. Mr. Eden had felt that his public statement published on August 26 (my 3916, August 2717) had made clear that Great Britain had no designs on Iranian sovereignty or territorial integrity and that this intention has been made emphatically clear both by the British and the Russians in their declarations to the Iranian Government. The Foreign Office also emphasized its [Page 440] conviction that the consistently evasive attitude of the Iranian Government to the British and Russian request for the expulsion of dangerous German nationals had been based on the belief of the Shah and his Government that the Germans would soon be at the frontiers of Iran and that they were determined to be on good terms with Hitler when that day arrived.

The British have no intention of keeping their military forces in Iran longer than necessary to insure themselves against any possibility of Hitler’s gaining a foothold in Iran and access to Iranian oil fields. It was stated they have no reason to believe that Russian intentions are any different and that there are absolutely no private understandings between the British and Russian Governments which would give Russia any sort of free hand in Iran or any tacit acquiescence in Russian troops remaining in Iran any longer than military necessities require.

In a secret telegram received on August 26 from the British Ambassador at Angora, Sir H. Knatchbull-Hugessen reported a meeting he had with the Turkish Minister for Foreign Affairs on August 25 at which he had handed him a memorandum setting forth the reasons for the British-Russian action in Iran and declaring that the British Government had no designs whatever against Iran’s political independence or territorial integrity. The British Ambassador reported that the Turkish Foreign Secretary was most friendly but had remarked that he thought it right as a friend and ally of Great Britain to explain his reasons for disagreeing with the policy which had been adopted in Iran. As reported by Sir Hughe these reasons were as follows: If the war ended in a draw or if Russia defeated Germany, the Foreign Minister saw no reason why the presence of Germans in Iran should be a danger to the British. If Russia was defeated by Germany a military problem would then arise on which the Minister did not feel competent to express an opinion but he said that even in that event he would have dealt with the matter differently; he did not say how. Sir Hughe explained in detail the dangers which the British wished to avoid, namely German military penetration into Iran with resulting disorder, sabotage and all sorts of fifth column work and in particular the necessity for securing the safety of the Iranian oil fields and refineries. The Turkish Minister for Foreign Affairs did not press his views further and is reported to have been particularly convinced by the necessity for insuring the safety of the Iranian oil fields. Sir Hughe asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs whether he was satisfied with Anglo-Soviet assurances already given and the Minister said that he was.

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Is it the Department’s view that the final paragraph of Mr. Eden’s public statement reported in my 3916, August 27,18 sufficiently covers the future position and Great Britain’s pledge that she has no designs against the independence and territorial integrity of Iran?

Winant
  1. Not printed.
  2. Not printed; the last paragraph of Mr. Eden’s statement reads as follows:

    “It is now clear that further friendly representations to the Iranian Government on the same lines as hitherto would serve no useful purpose and that His Majesty’s Government and the Soviet Government must have recourse to other measures to safeguard their essential interests. These measures will in no way be directed against the Iranian people; His Majesty’s Government have no designs against the independence and territorial integrity of Iran and any measures they may take will be directed solely against the attempts of the Axis Powers to establish their control in Iran.” (740.0011 European War 1939/14415)