861.248/172: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Winant)
6066. Department’s 5426, November 25, 9 p.m. and your 6027, December 12, 11 p.m. War Department has received report from General Wheeler that agreement has been reached with Commander-in-Chief, India, and Air Officer commanding Royal Air Force in Iraq to establish aircraft assembly plant at Abadan for delivery to the Russians of 200 planes per month and that the British are starting necessary construction work immediately.
You are requested to obtain the definitive approval of the British Government to establishment of this project as a purely American operation as indicated in the Department’s 5426.
[Page 484]We are glad to accept the British offer to assemble planes temporarily at Basra and the first contingent of planes is being delivered there. Future consignments will, however, be delivered to Abadan.
Please also request that the British send the necessary instructions to their Minister at Tehran and advise you of the nature of those instructions for our information. We are advising our Legation at Tehran but instructing Dreyfus not to approach the Iranian Government until his British colleague has been appropriately instructed.
We are instructing the Embassy at Kuibyshev70 to advise the Soviet Government of these plans and to take up with it the question of a suitable delivery point. General Wheeler is also seeking a conference with the Russian authorities in Iran to discuss details.
- Because of the German drive toward Moscow most of the Soviet Government had moved to Kuibyshev and the American Embassy had followed.↩