No. 131
Editorial Note
Following their conversation on November 8 (see Document 126), McGhee and Mosadeq talked further on November 13 and twice on both November 15 and 17. During these conversations McGhee proposed various solutions to the oil question, including the possibility of an Anglo-Dutch-American consortium and a World Bank trusteeship of the Abadan refinery, but none of the plans was satisfactory to Mosadeq. The Iranian Prime Minister insisted on a Persian Gulf price of $1.75 per barrel, while McGhee repeated that such insistence precluded any settlement.
At their second meeting on November 15 McGhee also delivered President Truman’s interim reply to Mosadeq’s request (see footnote 4, Document 126) for economic assistance, which stated that the request was being considered and a further reply would be forthcoming.
Memoranda of the five conversations between McGhee and Mosadeq are in file 888.2553/8–1051. No copy of President Truman’s interim reply has been found in Department of State files, but it is [Page 284] described in the memoranda of conversation for November 15 and 17, referred to above.