381. Telegram From the Department of State to the Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs (Banisadr)1
302083. To U.S. Charge Bruce Laingen from Iran Working Group.2 Subject:
1. This is message number 9. Please confirm receipt.
2. Our Embassy in Islamabad has been taken over by a mob which may have been sparked by false repeat false reports of U.S. involvement in an incident yesterday in Mecca. In that incident a group of Muslims took over the Grand Mosque and barricaded themselves inside. It is absolutely essential that Iranian authorities permit no repeat no further such false reports to be broadcast or published in Iran. The U.S. had no repeat no involvement in that incident in any way and any report to the contrary could dangerously inflame already difficult situation in Tehran. Please bring this to attention of your contacts immediately.
3. For your information, Tehran Radio quotes statement issued by Imam Khomeini’s office in Qom today which includes following sentence: “It is not farfetched to assume that this act has been perpe [Page 865] trated by the criminal American imperialism. So that it can infiltrate the solid ranks of Muslims by such intrigues.”3
- Source: National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, D790535–1044. Unclassified. Drafted by Saunders; cleared in S/S–O; approved by Saunders.↩
- Laingen was being held at the Foreign Ministry where he was when students occupied the Embassy in Tehran on November 4.↩
- See Document 375.↩