761.91/8–2247: Telegram
The Ambassador in Iran (Allen) to the Secretary of State
789. Qavam sent Nikpey to see me urgently last night to say that the Soviet Ambassador had just sent the Prime Minister word1 that the latter’s “delaying tactics” in the oil question were “jeopardizing the independence of Iran.” Tasked Nikpey to express to the Prime Minister my confidence that the Iran Government would not be frightened by these threatening and bullying tactics which the USSR had long used in trying to obtain bases on the Dardanelles from Turkey and which Sadchikoff himself had followed in Azerbaijan case last winter. I said we would probably hear a lot more of this kind of thing before the case was finished but that patriotic Iranians should not allow themselves to be deterred from doing their duty to their country. Nikpey said Iranians would not be frightened by Soviet threats.
I am inclined to think Iran will stand firm in this matter, especially so long as we continue our own firmness in support of UN principles and our determination to oppose aggression. Department’s 487, August 18, is most useful and timely in this connection. Qavam is essentially a patriot but he requires constant reassurance that Iran will not be left alone in the world to face the Soviet blasts.
Sent Department 789, repeated London 96.
Department pass Moscow 99 and Petropolis.2
- According to telegram 783, August 21, from Tehran, Prime Minister Qavam informed Ambassador Allen that Soviet Ambassador Sadchikoff had called on him the previous day and “pressed energetically for a joint signature of a new accord to take the place of the Sadchikoff–Qavam agreement of April 4, 1946. The new accord would contain the same provisions as the old with the single addition that the two govts agreed to establish the proposed mixed company within three months . . . . Qavam said he told Sadchikoff he could not sign any agreement without approval of the Cabinet and that the present Cabinet could take no action of this kind until it had received a vote of confidence from the Majlis.” (891.6363/8–2147)↩
- The Secretary of State was Chairman of the United States Delegation at the Inter-American Conference for the Maintenance of Continental Peace and Security, which met near Petropolis, Brazil, from August 15 to September 2, 1947.↩