Office of the Historian

277. Backchannel Message From the President’s Deputy Assistant for National Security Affairs (Scowcroft) to the Ambassador to Iran (Helms)1

Washington, March 10, 1975, 1533Z.

WH50365. Would you please pass the following oral message to the Shah from Secretary Kissinger in response to the Shah’s latest message on his agreement with Iraq:2

“Your Imperial Majesty: I very much appreciated receiving through Ambassador Helms your full report on the agreement you have reached with the Government of Iraq with respect to the Kurdish [Page 751] question. There is little I can add to what I have already said to you personally during our recent meeting.3 This is obviously a matter for Your Majesty to decide in the best interests of your nation. Our policy remains as always to support Iran as a close and staunch friend of the United States. I will of course follow with great interest the evolution of Iraqi-Iranian relations and of Iraqi policy in your area generally and toward the Soviet Union in particular. Warm regards. Henry A. Kissinger.”

Warm regards.

[Omitted here is the text of the message from Kissinger to Scowcroft requesting Helms to deliver the message to the Shah, followed by a copy of Kissinger’s message.]

  1. Source: Ford Library, National Security Adviser, Backchannel Messages, Box 4, Mideast/Africa, Outgoing 3/75. Secret; Sensitive; Eyes Only.↩
  2. See Documents 275 and 276.↩
  3. See Document 103.↩