September 18, 1952
MEMORANDUM OF CONVERSATION
Participants: Mr. Saleh, the new Iranian Ambassador Mr. Acheson
Mr. Saleh called at his request to present his credentials and to arrange to be received by the President. He handed me his papers and also the attached letter from former Ambassador Ala to which I should reply.
After an exchange of courtesies, he said that he had been requested by the Prime Minister at the earliest date to impress upon me the extreme urgency of the situation in Iran; the rapid deterioration of the economy of the country; the growth of communist agitation, and to state that the Iranian Government asked for our most immediate and sympathetic help in resolving the problem. He felt that in a short time the matter might get beyond control. He said that I had undoubtedly been informed of the proposals of the Prime Minister as laid before the Parliament. I replied that I of course had been informed of them but I had not yet had an opportunity to consider them in detail with my associates and therefore would not comment on them.
I asked whether the Ambassador was able to inform me as to the procedures which the Prime Minister had in mind--Was he for instance, contemplating making some reply to the proposals which had been made to him? The Ambassador said that the Prime Minister would of course do this, but it was the Ambassador's impression from the past procedures followed by the Prime Minister that he would regard his communication to the Parliament as sufficient opening for further negotiation. The Ambassador asked whether I requested a reply. I said that I was making no request but merely seeking information.
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The Ambassador then urged me to impress upon the British that what appeared to be their present policy of allowing the matter to drag along with the expectation that the Iranians would come to their knees and accept any British proposal was an unfounded expectation. He said that he did not of course believe that we participated in any such policy or belief and then made a considerable speech about the help which the United States had given to Iran which he parenthetically observed was not sufficient with what was being done in other parts of the world and expounded on his own friendship dating from his childhood in the United States.
I replied that he was correct. The United States Government had no idea in mind except to be helpful in trying to bring the controversy to an honorable close. I said that I had received no impression from the British that they desired or expected the Iranian Government or people to accept an unjust settlement. On the contrary I thought that the British had gone a long way to meet what they and we had believed to be the views of the Iranian Government. The Ambassador said that at some time he would like to explain in detail why the Iranians were suspicious of the present proposals and that this suspicion grew out of long dealings with the British. I said that I would be of course at his disposal at any time to discuss the matter, but that I believed it would be more useful to do so after I had been able to consider the latest developments with my colleagues in the Department. With this he agreed and then took his leave.
I should add that at one point in the discussion I observed that I understood that Mr. Maki was in this country presumably to discuss the same matters which the Ambassador had raised with me and I assumed that the Ambassador and Mr. Maki would coordinate their representations to the Department. The Ambassador said that Mr. Maki had no official standing and that he merely wished to discuss matters with officials of the Department in an informal and unofficial way, that he was a leader in Iran and that he believed it would be most useful for the Department to get his point of view.
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