The British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs ( Bevin ) to the Peopled Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Union ( Molotov )12

I am glad that we have reached so cordial understanding on the question of the withdrawal of Allied troops from Persia, about which [Page 415] I wrote to you on September 19th and you replied on September 20th. I am sorry that, owing to a doubt in the translation, there was some misunderstanding about the intention of your letter. The difference in language certainly creates problems for us.*

My colleagues were pleased to learn from me of the complete agreement between us as to the date by which Allied troops should be withdrawn, that is, by March 2nd, 1946, six months after the signing of the Japanese surrender on September 2nd, 1945.13 His Majesty’s Government are issuing a direction to the British military authorities accordingly.

  1. Reprinted from ibid., col. 247.
  2. There was a misunderstanding owing to the Russian text of M. Molotov’s first letter being translated to read “on the expiry,” whereas the correct translation was “towards the end.” [Footnote in the original.]
  3. At its seventeenth meeting on September 22, 1945, the Council of Foreign Ministers took note of statements by the British Foreign Secretary and the Soviet Foreign Commissar that British and Soviet troops would be withdrawn from Iran within 6 months after the surrender of Japan on September 2, 1945. The Council agreed, in view of those statements, to withdraw the Iranian item from the agenda of the Conference. Regarding this Council decision, see the Record of Decisions of the Seventeenth Meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers, September 22, 1945, and the American Minutes of the same meeting, vol. ii, pp. 315 and 316, respectively.