Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952-1954, Iran, 1951–1954, Second Edition

100. Editorial Note

In telegram 422 from Tehran, July 28, 1952, Ambassador Henderson reported on his first meeting with Prime Minister Mosadeq since the latter’s return to power on July 22. Describing the conversation as “both exhausting and depressing,” Henderson endeavored to explain to Mosadeq the nature of the Embassy’s relationship with Qavam during the previous weeks. Henderson denied the charge the United States had intervened illegitimately in Iran’s internal affairs. Mosadeq nevertheless concluded from Henderson’s account that the United States had pressured Qavam to accept British conditions for a solution to the oil dispute, that the United States had shown a “more friendly attitude to Qavam than it had Mosadeq,” and that the United States “had given encouragement to Qavam by showing friendliness to him.” Henderson questioned all three conclusions. Mosadeq then engaged in a bitter critique of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East and charged that the United States “in Mid-East was merely agent of Brit.” Telegram 422 is printed in Foreign Relations, 1952–1954, volume X, Iran 1951–1954, pages 416–421 (Document 189).