891.00/1916½
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Chief of the Division of Near Eastern Affairs (Alling)
The Minister9 handed me the attached statement10 concerning a dispute which had arisen between the British Legation in Tehran [Page 339] and the Iranian Government in regard to certain persons who had been arrested at the request of the British because of their alleged Axis sympathies. The Minister said that the attached statement was self-explanatory; that it was perfectly apparent that the Iranian Government had gone to great lengths in meeting British desires but that the Iranian Government felt they could not meet the present British demands to turn over the arrested persons to the British authorities. The Minister pointed out that the Iranian Government was perfectly willing to punish any persons whose activities were inimical to British interests but that, under the laws of the country, such punishment could not be meted out without evidence. The Minister went on at length to stress the fact that such unreasonable demands on the part of the British only served to create bitter feeling between them and the Iranians. He said that such demands, furthermore, weakened the Iranian Government in the eyes of the Mejlis and that that Government could not agree to such demands and continue in power. Finally the Minister said that he had been instructed by his Government to request the Department to support the Iranian position in this matter with a view to bringing about an early and satisfactory solution of the dispute.
I told the Minister that we had had some word from our Minister in Tehran concerning what appeared to be the same matter, and that we should be glad to look into the case further and see whether there is anything we could do to be mutually helpful to the Iranians and the British.