320/8–1750
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Officer in Charge of Iranian Affairs (Ferguson)
| Participants: | Mr. Aram of the Embassy of Iran |
| GTI—Mr. Rountree1 | |
| Mr. Ferguson |
Mr. Aram called at his own request to read a telegram from the Foreign Minister of Iran on the question of the candidacy of Nasrollah Entezam for the Presidency of the General Assembly. Mr. Aram said that the Foreign Minister had been informed that while the Pakistan Prime Minister was in the United States, he had been told that the United States would support the candidacy of Sir Zafrullah Khan. Mr. Aram was instructed to learn the truth of this report and again urge the Department to support Mr. Entezam.
Mr. Rountree told Mr. Aram that no decision had been taken by the Department on this question and that the Iranian Government could rest assured that no assurance of any sort had been given any country. Mr. Rountree said he had hoped that the Iranian and Pakistan Governments would have been able to agree between them as [Page 110] to the candidate and hoped this might still be possible.2 He said Iran should realize the difficult situation in which the Department had been placed by the rival candidates of two such outstanding men from the same area.
Mr. Aram said he appreciated the difficulty of the situation but felt that the Department must realize that if we should fail to support Mr. Entezam, there would be “unfortunate” results in Iran. He again outlined Mr. Entezam’s qualifications and expressed the opinion that while Sir Zafrullah was an exceedingly able lawyer his experience for the task under consideration could not compare with that of Mr. Entezam.
Mr. Rountree assured Mr. Aram that the matter was being seriously considered at the moment but that he did not know when a decision would be taken but certainly not for another week or ten days.
- William M. Rountree, Director of the Office of Greek, Turkish, and Iranian Affairs.↩
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The Department was particularly active in June in encouraging consultations to take place between Iran and Pakistan regarding the issue of who would stand for the presidency of the General Assembly. The Department had informed the Embassies at Tehran and Karachi on at least two occasions of its hope that the two governments would be able to reach agreement on this issue. (The documents which are not printed are in the 320 series, Department of State central indexed files.) The Tehran Embassy was informed as early as June 7 that the Department was “under daily pressure from the Iranian Embassy for U.S. support of Entezam.…” (Deptel 665, to Tehran, June 7, File No. 320/6–750) In a conversation at the Department on June 19 the Iranian Chargé (Aram)
“… again expressed disappointment that the United States Government had not seen fit to make known its support of Mr. Entezam, since he [Aram] felt that this would have precluded Zafrullah Khan’s entry into the race. Moreover, he felt that an announcement at this time would go a long way in solving the matter in Mr. Entezam’s favor.…” (memorandum of conversation by Rountree, June 19, File No. 320/6–1950)
The Department sent another round of cables to Tehran and Karachi on August 21 (telegrams 320 and 321 to Tehran and 108 and 109 to Karachi), with no results. (320 series)
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