501.BC/5–346: Telegram
The United States Representative at the United Nations (Stettinius) to the Secretary of State
urgent
[Received May 3—1:01 p.m.]
138. Sir Alexander Cadogan advised me this morning that he had talked to Mr. Lie last evening regarding the date of the meeting on Iran. Lie reported he had talked to the President of the Council about this matter and thought that the best thing to do would be not to set a date for the meeting now. If parties reported by midnight on May 6, he would get in touch with the President immediately and they could call a meeting on short notice. Sir Alexander had apparently told Lie he thought this was satisfactory. I told Sir Alexander I did not agree with this and would talk to Dr. Afifi Pasha about it and let him know the result.
I then arranged to see Dr. Afifi Pasha. I told him what Sir Alexander [Page 446] had reported to me and advised him that I felt that this was an undignified procedure for the Council; I thought the Council ought to set now the date of its meeting for the afternoon of Tuesday, May 7; it seemed to me the Council should assume that the Russians and Iranians would act in accordance with the request of the Council in its resolution of April 4; if the Russian troops had evacuated Iran by midnight Monday there was no reason why the parties could not report that by Tuesday at 3 o’clock. In any case I thought the Council should meet as was contemplated in the resolution of April 4. If no reports had arrived by that time, the Council would have to make up its mind what to do about the situation.
Dr. Afifi agreed wholeheartedly with this suggestion. He said that he had discussed this question with Mr. Lie and had made this same suggestion to him. Lie had advised he would discuss the matter with the other members of the Council and let him know.
Dr. Afifi said he would call Lie immediately and advise him that a meeting should be called immediately for Tuesday at 3 p.m.
We discussed what was likely to happen at the meeting. I advised him that if from our own sources it appeared that the Russians had completed the evacuation and if the Iranians reported that fact, Ave would not insist upon a report from the Russians but would be agreeable to taking the matter off the agenda. I also advised him we thought the Council should not take the matter off its agenda without a report from at least the Iranians. In that case we felt the Council would have to ask the Secretary General to communicate with the parties. Dr. Afifi agreed that this would be the right approach to the problem.
He indicated that he felt it was likely that the Russian troops would have withdrawn. His private information was to the effect that they were leaving groups of “armed civilians” behind. He doubted whether the Iranians would raise this question, however. He thought they would be under severe pressure to report that the evacuation was completed and that they would probably do so. If they found later that there continued to be Russian interference they might possibly raise the matter again.
In regard to the question whether Gromyko would attend the meeting on Tuesday, Dr. Afifi thought that he probably would if he knew in advance that both parties would make satisfactory reports and that the Council would take action to drop the matter from its agenda. Otherwise, he did not believe he would be present.
[Here follows discussion of matters other than the Iranian question.]