711.00/10–2946
Memorandum by the Assistant Secretary of State for Occupied Areas (Hilldring) to the Under Secretary of State (Acheson)
In the conference yesterday afternoon attended by the Secretary, Under Secretary, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Henderson, Mr. Matthews25 and General Hilldring, with respect to changes in the Armaments Policy, it was decided:
That with respect to Turkey and Greece, arms should be furnished by the United Kingdom. In the event that the United Kingdom required arms for this purpose which were not in its possession, the arms would be furnished to the United Kingdom by the United States.
With respect to Iran a limited amount of armament not to exceed $10,000,000 in value would be sold to Iran. In the event that credits were necessary in order to furnish these arms, the United States would give favorable consideration to such a credit.
That no further exception to the existing arms policy would be authorized at this time.
That language would be added to the existing Arms and Armament Policy which would make it possible for the Secretary of State to depart from the existing policy when it was clearly in the interest of the United States to do so. Language to make such exceptions possible, for inclusion in the present arms policy, would be prepared by General Hilldring and submitted to the Secretary for approval.
- H. Freeman Matthews, Director of the Office of European Affairs.↩