861.248/172: Telegram
The Ambassador in the United Kingdom ( Winant ) to the Secretary of State
[Received December 12—8:23 p.m.]
6027. Supplementing my 6011, December 11, 11 p.m., Foreign Office has just forwarded to me the following message:
“It was suggested in your original message that His Majesty’s Government might approach immediately the Governments of Iraq, Iran and India for their approval and assistance in furnishing facilities which might be required for the project. As stated in Law’s letter of the 11th December68 our authorities consider that of the various alternatives Karachi would not be a suitable site for the assembly base in view of the heavy call upon the facilities there to meet the needs of the Royal Air Force in India and in the Far East. The choice of a site therefore seems to lie between places in Iraq and in Iran in which case there will be no need to bring the Government of India into the matter.
As regards Iraq we are satisfied that the interim arrangements suggested in Law’s letter for the unloading and assembly by the Royal Air Force of United States aircraft at Basra would be covered by the terms of the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of Alliance,69 article IV of which provides that in the event of war Iraq shall furnish to the United Kingdom all facilities and assistance in its power including the use of railways, rivers, ports, aerodromes and means of communication. As a matter of courtesy it may, however, be expedient to inform the Iraqi Government of what is proposed and we will gladly send the necessary instructions to our Ambassador at Baghdad as soon as we learn that these interim arrangements are satisfactory to the United States Government.
We consider that the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty would similarly cover the long term project for an assembly base, purely American in character if the site eventually selected were in Iraqi territory as would be the case if it were located at Umqasr. The position would be that His Majesty’s Government were in effect subletting to the United States Government part of a site made available to them by the Iraqi Government under the treaty and we should not consider it necessary to do more than notify the Iraqi Government of this development when the time came to establish the base. This again we gladly undertake to do.
Your Excellency will remember that the alternative suggested in Mr. Law’s letter of December 11th was that the permanent base should be established at Khosrowabad in Iran. If, as we believe will shortly be the case, the Anglo-Iranian Treaty of Alliance goes through the position would be exactly parallel to that described above in the case of Iraq. In that case we would, of course, send our Minister at Tehran [Page 483] the necessary instructions. If the draft treaty with Iran failed to materialize we should probably not consider it necessary even to notify the Iranian Government and we should simply assist the United States authorities to establish the base by virtue of our being in military occupation of that part of the country.
The other question on which I understand Your Excellency is anxious to have the opinion of His Majesty’s Government is that of the delivery point at which the assembled United States aircraft are to be delivered to the Russians. We note that the United States Government are anxious that this point shall be situated in Iran, that they consider that it would most conveniently be situated at Tehran and that they expect arrangements to be made for its defense. On further consideration it might be best that your Government should consult the Soviet Government on this question of the exact point of delivery and make arrangements with them direct. For our part, however, we consider that it would be preferable to locate the delivery point at some place such as Kazvin within the area occupied by Russian troops. There are no longer Allied troops at Tehran and to bring them back would raise a difficult political question. Practical difficulties might arise if the delivery point were situated in the southern part of Iran which is occupied by British troops.
There is one further point which I think I ought to mention at this stage. Your message of the 26th November did not specify the arrangements which the United States Government contemplates for providing ferry crews and communication aircraft for the return of the crews from the delivery point to the assembly base. His Majesty’s Government assume that in view of the purely American character of the project these will be furnished by the United States Government and we should be very grateful to have confirmation of this. We fear that it would be quite impossible for the Royal Air Force to undertake this commitment.”