701.9111/11–3045
The Shahanshah of Iran ( Mohammad Reza Pahlavi ) to President Truman 94
Dear Mr. President: On appointing the first Ambassador to your country, I seize the welcome opportunity to send Your Excellency my warmest greetings and express the cordial sentiments of the Iranian people.
The choice of Hussein Ala, my Minister of the Imperial Court, for the important position of Iranian Ambassador to Washington is sufficient proof of my keen desire for the closest understanding based on mutual trust and cooperation with America.
It is over sixty years since regular diplomatic relations were established between my country and yours,96 and some forty years ago Iran first sought expert financial advice from the United States of America97 as the country best indicated to help her.
The good understanding and friendly relationship existing between the two countries have been daily extended and strengthened ever since, and we have at all times looked upon your envoys to this country as the symbols of justice and goodwill.
The crowning event in our relations was the historic visit of the late President Roosevelt who honoured the capital of this country by his stay in 1943.98 To that eminent personality and his fortitude and farsightedness much is owed by the United Nations. His death which was a shock to us in this country was a great loss to the world. We shall always remember the days he spent amongst us in order, with the help of the other Allied Nations, to plan the victory in Europe.
We also remember with gratitude that the document acknowledging the contributions and sacrifices made by Iran in this war,99 which by God’s Providence has ended in the complete victory of those who stood for justice and freedom, bears his signature, and that he established the policy of the United States of America to maintain and confirm the independence and integrity of Iran.
[Page 406]As Your Excellency already knows, during this world conflict, Iran helped her Allies with determination and all the means at her disposal. In her services to the cause of victory over tyranny and injustice, she sustained her share of hardships and privations. Now that victory has been gained, the Iranian people look forward to see a better day dawn for them as well as for all the nations of the world; they expect to have opportunity to live undisturbed within their frontiers and to lay the foundations of a life conducive to prosperity and peace. In order to achieve this, Mr. President, Iran expects that her sufferings and sacrifices shall not have been in vain, and that the assistance she needs for that purpose will be forthcoming from her great Allies and in particular from the United States of America.
Let me assure you, Mr. President, that the sincere friendship felt by the people of Iran and myself for you and the people of the United States is deep-seated in our hearts.
I wish particularly to stress the fact that the clear-sighted and high-minded policy which Your Excellency has pursued with such distinction, ability and success in the short period of the leadership of the United States of America is a source of real gratification and of confidence for the future peace of the world.
I avail myself of this opportunity, Mr. President, to express to Your Excellency my best wishes for your personal health and happiness and the prosperity of the steadfast and freedom-loving people of the United States.
Yours Sincerely,
- Handed to President Truman on November 29, 1945, by Hussein Ala at the time be presented his letters of credence as first Iranian Ambassador to the United States; see bracketed note, p. 461.↩
- Royal summer palace at Shimran, a suburb of Tehran.↩
- The first Minister Resident of the United States to Iran arrived at Tehran on June 9, 1883; see Foreign Relations, 1883, p. 702.↩
- For documentation on the employment by Iran of American experts as financial assistants in 1911, see ibid., 1911, pp. 679 ff.↩
- In connection with his conference with Prime Minister Churchill and Marshal Stalin at Tehran from November 28 to December 1, 1943; for documentation on this Conference, see Conferences at Cairo and Tehran.↩
- The Declaration Regarding Iran.↩