890F.515/115: Telegram
The Minister in Egypt (Tuck) to the Secretary of State
[Received June 17—9:45 a.m.]
1667. From Moose. Yesterday morning the Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs delivered to me the following message from King Ibn Saud with the request that it be transmitted to Washington.
“We are gratefully indebted to our two Allies, America and Great Britain, for their kindness and help which have had a great effect on us and our country, a thing which we will never forget and for which we will always be grateful to them. We would like to inform them now that there has happened exactly what we were afraid of and to which we referred a few weeks ago. It has actually taken place and there is no doubt that the two Legations are aware of the situation; and if they want further explanation our Ministers of Foreign Affairs PI and of Finance are ready to give them full details about the situation. Moreover, conditions at Riyadh and in the various parts of Nejd are worse and there is no doubt that if things are left without remedy they will have a bad repercussion on all the neighboring countries. Prices will go up and troubles and unusual disturbances may result. In view of our cordial friendship with the two Allied Governments and of their past services to us we have decided to inform them of everything that takes place in our country and about conditions surrounding us. We beg the two Legations to transmit this to their Governments in the hope that a solution may be found for they are capable of finding such a solution. We would like to know where we stand and what they can do to help us.”
A similar message was delivered to the British Chargé d’Affaires.7 Commentary will follow in a separate message.8 [Moose.]