293. Editorial Note
On January 25, Secretary of State Dulles met briefly with Prime Minister Noon in Tehran. Dulles and Noon were enroute to the fourth meeting of the Ministerial Council of the Baghdad Pact, which was to be held in Ankara, January 27–30. A memorandum of their conversation, which dealt primarily with Iran’s defense and economic position, reads in part as follows:
“The Secretary expressed interest in a statement made by Mr. Noon that the Soviets had been making offers to Pakistan and asked how these offers were expressed. Mr. Noon replied that the Soviet Ambassador had recently said that if Pakistan would change its policies toward the Baghdad Pact and SEATO, the Soviet Union could extend help to Pakistan just as it had to India. Mr. Noon had replied by saying that the Soviets had seen fit to back India against Pakistan and from his point of view the Indians could keep the Soviets and the Pakistanis would keep the Americans.” (Memorandum of conversation by Rountree; Department of State, Secretary’s Memoranda of Conversation: Lot 64 D 199)