891.51A/6–3044: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Chargé in Iran (Ford)
402. Your 470 June 30. Memorandum of conversation on June 23 between officers of Department and Ebtehaj and Iranian Minister has been sent you by mail. Statements of officers of Department to Ebtehaj were similar to those made in earlier conversation with Shayesteh summarized in Department’s 357 June 8. Ebtehaj began conversation with long statement, allegedly made at request of his Government, in which he criticized Millspaugh strongly. He referred to his long support of Millspaugh but said he had become convinced that no one could possibly carry out the many duties and responsibilities of the position. He thought it particularly necessary to relieve Millspaugh of some of his duties because of his weakness as an administrator, his inability to delegate authority and his age. He gave Millspaugh full credit for his good intentions and loyalty to Iranian interests. He thought our note to the Iranian Government showed that we were not informed of the true situation in Iran.
Mr. Murray15 in reply outlined the Department’s position as follows: (1) The Department has in fact been kept very fully informed on all phases of the situation in Iran, both by our Legation in Tehran and by Shayesteh. (2) This Government has no authority over the advisers, has no intention of imposing any individual or group on Iran and has no desire to establish or control the conditions and powers under which the advisers work. (3) The Department must insist however that as long as the Iranian Government has American advisers it must accord them full support and protect them from slanderous and unjustified attacks. Mr. Murray repeated the recommendation that before taking any action to separate Millspaugh’s economic and financial powers or before taking any other action in the matter, the Iranian Government should think through the consequences and have in mind workable alternatives which would not make the situation worse rather than better. Finally Mr. Murray said that while we earnestly hoped that Dr. Millspaugh and the Iranian authorities would be able to arrive at a solution satisfactory to both, the controversy should not be permitted to disturb our friendly [Page 418] relations with Iran which are based on deep and historic considerations.
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- Wallace Murray, Director of the Office of Near Eastern and African Affairs.↩