Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976, Volume XXIV, Middle East Region and Arabian Peninsula, 1969–1972; Jordan, September 1970

288. Transcript of a Telephone Conversation Among the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger), the Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs (Sisco), and the British Ambassador (Freeman)¹

Washington, September 20, 1970, 10:45 p.m.

K: We have some news for you which confirms all you passed to us earlier. We had a message from Amman (reads message).² Passing on request of King Hussein. Asked us to pass it on to the British.

F: Which I think you have done.

K: We are doing it now. We have passed this message in substance to the Israeli Ambassador and he said he would take it under advisement.³ That is where the matter stands now.

F: Quite. Now I will pass that message. You are not thinking of ringing up Greenhill immediately.

K: I would be glad to.

S: We have flashed it to London and we could have our people there in the Embassy take a copy right over.

F: That would be helpful. I think they would like to see the text.

K: Joe, do you know how many British nationals in Jordan?

F: I think the figure is 160 unless there has been some change in the last few days.

K: Well we will be in close touch with you and keep you informed of any information that we might get.

F: You haven’t yet got any information about how you are going to react to this?

K: No.

F: Are you considering this a matter of urgency? You have had this formidable request addressed to you and the next question is what are you going to answer.

K: We have not had a formal request to land troops. We have not made any decisions about how we will respond for ourselves.

F: One more question to make sure I understand the text. At the end he said this request may come to you very quickly for air strikes. I will pass the gist of it on.

K: And we will get the text of it right away.

1. Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, Kissinger Telephone Conversations, Box 30, Chronological Files. No classification marking.
2. Document 284.
3. See Document 287. In telegram 154448 to Amman, September 21, 0556Z, the Department instructed the Embassy to inform Hussein that his message was passed to the British and discussed with the Israelis. The Department also requested that Hussein keep the U.S. Government informed regarding all developments on the ground. (Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Kissinger Files, Box 172, Geopolitical File, Jordan Crisis, Selected Exchanges)