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

145. Memorandum From the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (Bradley) to Secretary of Defense Lovett¹

Washington, November 18, 1952.

SUBJECT

• NSC 136—The Present Situation in Iran²

1. This memorandum is in response to your memorandum of 10 November 1952, subject as above, in which you request the comments and recommendations of the Joint Chiefs of Staff with respect to the draft statement of policy by the National Security Council Staff entitled “United States Policy Regarding the Present Situation in Iran” (NSC 136).³

2. The Joint Chiefs of Staff have studied the proposed statement of policy and are in general agreement with those parts of the policy having military implications. The Joint Chiefs of Staff recommend, however, that subparagraph 5 b, page 6, of NSC 136 should be marked with an asterisk and that there should be inserted a corresponding footnote which reads:⁴

“If for overriding political reasons it is found necessary for the United States to provide military forces in this area, implementation will require either a substantial augmentation of over-all United States forces or a reduction of present United States military commitments elsewhere.”

Also the Joint Chiefs of Staff note that no mention is made in the policy of the Treaty of Friendship Between Persia and the Russian Socialist Federal Soviet Republic, signed at Moscow, 26th February, 1921 and it is believed that this particular aspect of the problem should not be overlooked by the National Security Council when the Council takes action on NSC 136.⁵

For the Joint Chiefs of Staff:

Omar N. Bradley⁶

1. Source: Central Intelligence Agency, DDI Files, Job 33R00601A, Box 24, Folder 2, National Security Council 136 Series. Top Secret; Security Information. The memorandum is attached to a transmittal memorandum from Lay to the NSC, November 18, that reads: “At the request of the Secretary of Defense, the attached views of the Joint Chiefs of Staff with respect to the reference report on the subject are circulated herewith for the information of the National Security Council in connection with its consideration of NSC 136 at its meeting on November 19, 1952.”
2. Reference is to a draft of NSC 136, dated November 6. See Document 144, footnotes 1, 2, and 3.
3. Not found.
4. See Document 147.
5. An attached memorandum from R. Armory to Under Secretary of State Smith, November 19, discussed the Russo-Persian Treaty of 1921. It reads: “Concerning the last sentence of the JCS memo, State’s position is that legally the 1921 Treaty is no longer in force. D/DCI, from personal legal experience with the Treaty, concurs in this legal view. Possibility that the USSR might invoke the Treaty, as a pretended justification for any action, was informally considered in the drafting of NSC 136, and it is believed that further consideration is not necessary prior to action on NSC 136. In D/DCI’s and my judgment, the Treaty would play only a secondary role in any Soviet action. The general question of Soviet and world reaction to use of force by US or UK might be an appropriate one for a National Intelligence Estimate, and for use in the execution of paragraph 5 of NSC 136. The Treaty would be considered in such an NIE.”
6. Printed from a copy that bears this typed signature with an indication that Bradley signed the original.