407. Memorandum of a Conversation, Department of State, Washington, September 25, 19571

SUBJECT

  • Italian Oil Agreement with Iran

PARTICIPANTS

  • Italian:
    • Sig. Giuseppe Pella, Italian Foreign Minister
    • Amb. Manlio Brosio, Italian Ambassador
    • Sig. Massimo Magistrati, Director General, Political Affairs, Italian Foreign Office
    • Sig. Attilio Cattani, Director General, Economic Affairs, Italian Foreign Office
  • U.S.:
    • The Secretary
    • Ambassador Zellerbach
    • Mr. C. Burke Elbrick,EUR
    • Mr. H.G. Torbert, Jr., WE
    • Mr. A. Jose DeSeabra, Interpreter

In the course of his meeting with Foreign Minister Pella,2 the Secretary commented that there had recently been considerable public discussion of the Italian agreement to develop Iranian oil and it had been implied that the United States was in some way opposed to Italy’s entering international oil markets. He wished to observe that the United States recognizes the propriety of Italy’s participation in international oil development. Furthermore, he said, we were not officially committed to the 50–50 principle in division of oil profits as a matter of governmental policy although some of our private oil companies did have an interest in maintaining this formula. The point he would like to make, however, is that we would appreciate consultation and discussion of important developments in such matters which affect us both. We feel that consultation is a two-way street. Many governments would like to have us consult them about things in which they are interested but forget to consult us on their actions in which we are interested. He repeated, however, that we have not taken any offense at all at the operations of Mr. Mattei in Iran. Foreign Minister Pella, in his turn, thanked the Secretary for his clarity. He observed that he had recently been on a trip with President Gronchi to Iran which had been very satisfactory and there had been no developments [Page 946] in conflict with Italy’s pro-U.S. policy. It is the policy of the Italian Government that it desires that the actions of all people working in this field should be in accordance with Italy’s foreign policy.

  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 888.2553/9–2557. Confidential. Drafted by Torbert.
  2. Foreign Minister Pella was in the United States as the head of the Italian Delegation to the 12th U.N. General Assembly. A note by Macomber on the source text reads: “O.K., WM”.