Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976, Volume XXVI, Arab-Israeli Dispute, 1974–1976

15. Telegram From Secretary of State Kissinger to the President’s Deputy Assistant for National Security Affairs (Scowcroft)¹

January 19, 1974, 1814Z.

Hakto 56. Ref: Tohak 112.²

1. You may pass to the President that I have Sadat’s assurance that the oil embargo will be lifted no later than a week from Monday.³ You should also tell him that Sadat has promised to make a statement giving credit to the President for lifting of the embargo,⁴ that I have given Sadat a suggested text of what he should say in that statement; and that Sadat has promised to use the statement I have given him.

2. You should emphasize to the President that our best hope is Sadat, and that we must keep our oil men out of this affair, their interests are parochial and they clearly do not have the ear of the King.

3. Admittedly, even with Sadat’s assurances nothing may happen, but who else can we bet on. My own belief is that we can count on Sadat to produce what he has promised to produce.

4. You should emphasize to the President my deep belief we must stay with the game plan which has brought us this far. If we attempt to play with the program we have worked out we are likely to fail, and in the process may set our entire timetable back immeasurably. Should Sadat fail to perform on the firm assurances he has given us we can then turn to another course such as that suggested in Tohak 112.

1. Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Kissinger Office Files, Box 43, HAK Trip Files, January 10–20, 1974. Top Secret; Sensitive; Flash. According to Kissinger’s Record of Schedule, he was in Egypt on January 19 until 3 p.m. at which point he departed for Aqaba, Jordan, where he spent the rest of the day. (Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Kissinger Papers, Box 438, Miscellany, 1968–76)
2. Tohak 112 has not been found.
3. On January 27, Sadat wrote Nixon that he had communicated with King Faisal about lifting the embargo and that Faisal had agreed to lift it. (Telegram 422 from Cairo; National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Kissinger Office Files, Box 133, Country Files, Middle East, Egypt, Volume 9, January 1974)
4. That same day, Scowcroft replied to Kissinger that President Nixon believed he would be announcing the lifting of the oil embargo in his January 30 State of the Union address. (Telegram WH 40308; ibid., Box 43, HAK Trip Files, January 10–20, 1974) See Foreign Relations, 1969–1976, volume XXXVI, Energy Crisis, 1969–1974, Document 292.