891.24/605
The Secretary of State to Major General Lucius D. Clay of the War Department General Staff
My Dear General Clay: For some time the Department has felt that it would be helpful if the War Department would broaden the [Page 307] directive of the Commanding General of the Persian Gulf Service Command13 to enable him to give such assistance to the American and Iranian civil authorities as may be possible without interfering with the transportation of supplies to the Soviet Union.
James M. Landis14 telegraphed from Cairo that you are familiar with the situation and suggested that it be emphasized to you with particular reference to the grain collection and transport situation in Iran, which is briefly as follows:
Crops in Iran this season were large enough to feed the entire country.15 The minimum amount needed to feed the cities is 310,000 tons. This must be transported quickly since many roads become impassable in December. Collection and transport of grain are functions of the grain and transport sections of the American Financial Mission to Iran.16 These divisions have neither enough personnel nor trucks to do the job. If the job is not done, the Allied Governments will have to ship thousands of tons from overseas to prevent starvation in Iranian cities.
In these circumstances the Mission asked the British, Soviet and American forces in Iran for help. The British provided 500 trucks and promised 150 more. They have offered to lend 25 British officers and non-commissioned officers to assist in transport control and operation, and 14 British officers to assist in cereal collection outside the Soviet zone. These men will be under direction of the American Financial Mission.
The Soviet authorities have promised delivery to Tehran of 40,000 to 50,000 tons of grain if trucks are made available from the Iranian civil fleet.
General Connolly was asked to lend a few trucking experts and declined on the ground that he has none to spare and that responsibility for conditions in Iran rests primarily with the British and not at all on the American forces.
Mr. Landis telegraphed the following views on the matter: The cereal and transport situation in Iran is so serious that unless the difficulties are overcome it will react on our aid to Russia. A gesture of help from the American forces in Iran will do much to enhance American prestige and promote cooperative concern for Iran on the [Page 308] part of the United States, Great Britain and the Soviet Union. There is good cooperation on the civilian and diplomatic side. It is sound policy to implement the work of our Minister at Tehran17 and to make possible the success of Dr. Millspaugh, head of the American Financial Mission. The War Department’s help, in the form of broadening General Connolly’s directive, is necessary if our aims are to be achieved.
It seems clear to us that some cooperation by General Connolly in these matters would benefit our aid to Russia program. Assistance in grain transport would help to obviate a need such as arose a year ago, when we and the British Government arranged to ship 25,000 tons of wheat to the Persian Gulf for the people of Tehran, thus using cargo space and port and railroad facilities which otherwise might have been used for supplies to Russia.
Sincerely yours,
Adviser on Political Relations
- Maj. Gen. Donald H. Connolly.↩
- Director of American Economic Operations in the Middle East, with the personal rank of Minister, and Principal American Representative at the Middle East Supply Center (MESC), Cairo, an organization established in 1941 by the British to handle the supply of civilian goods to the countries of the Near East; for correspondence regarding American decision in 1942 to participate in the Middle East Supply Center, see Foreign Relations, 1942, vol. iv, pp. 1 ff.↩
- For correspondence concerning interest of the United States in the food situation in Iran, see ibid., 1943, vol. iv, pp. 600 ff.↩
- For correspondence regarding the Financial Mission, headed by Arthur C. Millspaugh, Administrator General of Finances in the Iranian Government, see pp. 390 ff.↩
- Louis G. Dreyfus, Jr.↩