891.00/6–646
The Ambassador in Iran (Allen) to the Director of the Office of Near Eastern and African Affairs (Henderson)
Dear Loy: …
In addition to seeing a good deal of the Shah and Qavam, I have had to receive innumerable delegations of Iranians, almost all of whom insist that the United States must play a more positive role in internal Iranian affairs. I have repeated almost ad nauseam that the United States is exerting every effort to prevent internal interference in Iranian affairs and that we cannot adopt the very tactics to which we object so strenuously, and insist that the United Nations is Iran’s best safeguard. However, Iranians are so accustomed to outside interference they resemble a man who has been in prison a long time and is afraid to walk out into the sunlight. The only way they can think of to counteract one interference is to invite another. My statements often send Iranians away with the feeling that the United States is not really interested in Iran and cannot be depended upon to give them much actual assistance, with the result that some of them [Page 496] turn to the Soviet Union for support rather than attempt to stand on their own legs. I believe, however, that in the long run our policy will begin to make an impression and am confident we should continue to follow it.
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