Office of the Historian

Roosevelt Papers

President Roosevelt to the Shah of Iran

Tehran, December 1, 1943.

Your Majesty, I was very much pleased to see you yesterday when you welcomed me to your country in the name of the Iranian people.1 Your gesture is one that emphasizes again the more than friendly feeling that has always existed between our two nations. I was delighted to have had this chance to make Your Majesty’s acquaintance.

I have received the magnificent carpet, the gracious gift of Your Majesty.2 This carpet will serve to remind both myself and the [Page 631] American people of the generous hospitality of the Iranian nation. I am truly grateful.

Your Majesty’s invitation to be a guest at your palace3 as well as your offer to meet me at the airport upon my arrival and to provide a guard of honor have been conveyed to me and I am most appreciative. Much to my regret, the circumstances of my visit, as you are no doubt aware, have made it impossible for me to avail myself of these kind offers, much as I would have liked to have done so.

I cannot emphasize too strongly how much I have been touched by all of these truly friendly gestures on the part of Your Majesty. I shall leave Iran with regret at not having had an opportunity to extend my acquaintance with you and to have seen more of your country and your people. The American people have for many years been cognizant of the friendly sentiments of the Iranian people, and the hospitality shown by Your Majesty in their name will serve to keep this realization alive for many years to come.

Iran has always occupied a warm spot in American hearts, more than ever now that we are brothers in arms. We know the part Iran is playing in the common struggle and our hope is that when peace at last comes, the spirit of working together that now exists between our two peoples will continue unchecked in peaceful labors.

I take this opportunity to thank Your Majesty again for all the gestures of friendliness and hospitality you have shown me and to wish Your Majesty the greatest happiness both for yourself and for the people of your ancient land.

With my sincere regards, I am,

Faithfully yours,

Franklin D. Roosevelt

I greatly hope that we shall have the pleasure of a visit from you to Washington.4

  1. See ante, p. 564.↩
  2. See ante, p. 468.↩
  3. See ante, p. 461, footnote 3.↩
  4. On signing the letter as submitted to him by Dreyfus, Roosevelt penned this additional sentence below his signature and near the left margin.↩