788.11/12–2154
No. 508
Memorandum by the Under Secretary of State
(Hoover) to the
President1
At the conclusion of his visit, the Shah asked me to report to you orally as follows:
He very greatly appreciated your interest, courtesy and hospitality, and was deeply impressed by the understanding of Iran’s problems which he found in Washington. The sense of cooperation which he felt everywhere was most encouraging.
He said that the only questions remaining in his mind were dependent upon decisions yet to be reached in our military groups, which he set forth as follows:
- (1)
- A final decision would have to be reached by the United States to see a “balance of power” between Turkey, Iran and Pakistan.
- (2)
- If the decision was affirmative, as he had reason to hope was the case, the United States would have to give financial help for the military program, in addition to military hardware, over the next three years until oil revenues had reached their normal levels.
- (3)
- The military budget and plans for conscription had to be formulated by February, which was the beginning of the Iranian fiscal year. He was troubled that our decision was dependent upon our plans for evaluation, and that he csyould not yet proceed with confidence.
He said that economic matters were now progressing satisfactorily, and that he was most grateful for all of the help we had given to his country.
- Drafted by Hoover. The information conveyed to the President was from a conversation between Hoover and the Shah on Dec. 15. (788.11/12–1554)↩