No. 65
Editorial Note
The Stokes Mission, composed of Richard Stokes, Lord Privy Seal; representatives from the Foreign Office, Treasury, and Ministry of Fuel and Power; E. H. Elkington, a director of the AIOC; and four other Company officials, arrived in Tehran on August 4. Following brief conversations with the Shah and Mosadeq on August 5 (see telegram 531, infra,) the British Delegation met with its Iranian counterpart on August 6 to begin the discussions on the oil dispute. The Iranian Delegation was led by Ali Varasteh, Minister of Finance, and included Minister of Education Sanjabi, Under-Secretary of Finance Hassibi, and four members of the Joint Parliamentary Oil Committee. During the course of the talks between the two delegations, the Harriman Mission remained at the disposal of both sides.
On August 13 Stokes submitted an eight-point proposal to the Iranian Delegation. This was rejected on August 18. With the talks apparently at an impasse, Harriman, on August 20, held the first of three meetings with Mosadeq and Stokes in an attempt to prevent the discussions from breaking down. Two further meetings on August 21 and 22 proved unsuccessful in breaking the deadlock and the Stokes Mission left Tehran for London on August 23, indicating that the talks had been suspended rather than broken off.