Office of the Historian

218. Memorandum From Secretary of State Rusk to President Johnson1

Washington, August 15, 1967.

SUBJECT

  • Your Meetings with the Shah of Iran

Our aim during the Shah’s visit will be to strengthen our relations with Iran by convincing the Shah that we recognize the importance to peace, stability and progress in the Middle East of a strong and independent Iran. To help strengthen our relations you might:

1.
Assure the Shah that we share the same goal: to promote peace, stability and progress in the Middle East:
  • —We greatly appreciate Iran’s constructive efforts to moderate the Arab-Israeli crisis, and to assist the U.S. in its own efforts to this end.
  • —We hope that Iran will maintain intimate relations with Turkey and Pakistan, retain close ties with Israel and moderate Arab countries, continue to work for better relations with Iraq, and support moderate forces in South Arabia after the British leave.
  • —We appreciate Iran’s concern about the possible extension of radical Arab influence to the Persian Gulf and approve of Iran’s efforts to strengthen its position and engage in political bridge-building in the Gulf.
2.
Take the Shah into your confidence on other major international problems:
  • —Southeast Asia: the Shah will expect to be thanked for Iran’s contribution of a medical team to South Viet Nam.
  • —US–USSR relations: the strain caused by Viet Nam has been kept within tolerable limits, and we have made progress in other, unrelated fields.
3.
Indicate our desire to continue to assist Iran within the limits of our heavy burdens and Iran’s growing financial strength:
  • —We want to continue our close military relationship.
  • —The Exim Bank and private American businessmen will continue to play a role in Iran’s economic development.
4.
Discuss frankly Soviet-Iranian relations:
  • —The Soviet aim is to break up the Irano-American relationship and eventually to establish Soviet influence and presence in the Persian Gulf area.
  • —Soviet-Iranian military deals confuse our public and Congress.
  • —Mutually beneficial economic relations do not cause us concern as long as they do not endanger Iran’s independence.
5.
Congratulate him on Iran’s progress, inquiring about his goals for the future—economics, social and political—and expressing the hope that projected increases in Iran’s military expenditures will not inhibit economic development.

Dean Rusk

Attachment

POINTS THE Shah MAY RAISE AND SUGGESTED RESPONSES

  • 1. United States Military Assistance for Iran
    a.
    The Shah will seek reassurance that we intend to maintain our close military cooperation and is likely to express a desire to obtain additional equipment and advisory assistance.
    b.
    You might respond that we will sympathetically consider any requests he may make for our assistance in developing a long-range military purchase program. Such assistance will have to be considered in the context of Congressional opinion and action on arms sales, and Iran is one of the countries we have had in mind in pressing the Congress for authority to continue extending credits for military sales.
  • 2. Oil
    a.
    The Shah may ask that we urge American oil companies belonging to the Iranian Oil Consortium to recognize Iran’s stability by greatly increasing their offtake from Iran and by participating in the construction of an Iranian-Turkish pipeline to the Mediterranean.
    b.
    You might respond by indicating that these are matters for the companies and by expressing the hope that Iran and the Oil Consortium will maintain the mutually beneficial relationship they have had in the past.
  1. Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Country File, Iran, Visit of Shah (con’t.), 8/22–24/67. Secret.↩