891.20/11–1849
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Secretary of State1
Subject: Iranian Desire for Greater Security Assurances from the United States
| Participants: | The Shah of Iran |
| Hussein Ala, Iranian Ambassador | |
| The Secretary of State | |
| Willard Thorp, Ass’t Secretary of State for Economic Affairs | |
| George C. McGhee, Ass’t Secretary of State for Near Eastern, South Asian, and African Affairs | |
| John D. Jernegan, Director, Office of Greek, Turkish, and Iranian Affairs |
During the course of a long conversation on various subjects, the Shah and Ambassador Ala brought up their view that it would be highly desirable for Iran to participate in a mutual defense pact including the U.S. or otherwise receive some form of direct security guarantee from the U.S. His Majesty pointed to the favorable position, as he put it, of Western European countries which were receiving direct military and economic assistance from America and also had the security assurances provided by the North Atlantic Treaty. He said that he had tried to interest the Turkish Government in an Irano-Turkish defense pact, but the Turks had replied, with justification, that such an arrangement would be useless without American association with it.2
[Page 580]I replied that I thought the U.S. had made its attitude toward Iran quite clear in the past. For the present I did not believe we could ex tend our treaty obligations. The President was very meticulous about never making commitments which he was not in a position to fulfill. Before we considered new treaties, we needed to see whether the North Atlantic Treaty would really fulfill its purpose of increasing the defensive strength of the European nations. If they were able to develop their own strength and so reduce the extent of their dependence upon the U.S. for protection, then our commitments would be reduced. Until we could be sure that this development would result from our present policies, we had to be very careful about extending our commitments.
I added, however, that our interest was not limited to the area of our formal treaty obligations. I was sure that our interest in Iran would be great indeed if trouble should come.
Later in the conversation, His Majesty suggested that it would be very helpful to him to have, during the course of his visit to the U.S., a public re-statement of our interest in Iranian independence. I agreed that we could issue a statement of this sort, provided it did not go beyond the sort of thing that had previously been said publicly by the U.S. Government. I suggested, and the Shah agreed, that this might take the form of a joint communiqué to be issued by the President and His Majesty at the time of the Shah’s departure from the U.S. It was agreed that Ambassador Ala and the appropriate officials of the Department would work together on the preparation of the communiqué.
- Drafted by Mr. Jernegan.↩
- Tehran, on
December 8, suggested that the Embassy in Turkey might be
requested to encourage military talks between Turkey and Iran,
since such talks might prove very fruitful and contribute
greatly to improving relations between the two countries
(telegram 1639). The Department, the following day, questioned
the advisability of the Embassy in Turkey encouraging
Turkish-Iranian military talks, inasmuch as the Turks might
interpret such action as indicating American intention to
participate in a regional pact involving the two countries.
(Telegram 470 to Ankara, repeated to Tehran. Both telegrams are
filed under 891.00/12–849)
Ankara, in reply on December 17, advised that “Turkish leaders have repeatedly told us they are not interested in any ‘mutual’ defense arrangements with neighboring states which were not in effect underwritten by US, believing there would be no resultant increase in Turkish security offset the inevitable hostile reaction of Soviet Union to such ‘provocation’.” (Telegram 521, 867.20/12–749)
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