Office of the Historian

840.20/3–1449

Memorandum by the Chief of the Division of Greek, Turkish, and Iranian Affairs (Jernegan) to the Assistant Secretary of State (Rusk)1

[Extract]
top secret
[Washington,] March 14, 1949.

Subject: Declaration on Greece, Turkey, and Iran.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Since our memorandum and the suggested draft2 were submitted to you and, separately, to the Secretary, there have been developments as follows:

1.
The British Embassy told us this afternoon that Bevin now wished to confine any reference to Greece, Turkey, and Iran, in connection with the Atlantic Pact, to a speech he planned to make in the House of Commons and the corresponding speech which the Secretary plans to make when the text of the Pact is made public. The Embassy handed us the attached text3 of the statement which Mr. Bevin was thinking of including in his speech. This text makes only very gassing reference to Iran while emphasizing Greece and Turkey. Bevin sent word, however, that he would welcome any stronger reference to Iran which the Secretary might wish to make.
2.
Subsequently, Mr. Bromley of the British Embassy called to say [Page 210] the Embassy had received a further telegram saying Bevin now wished to omit all reference to Iran in his statement and to withdraw the suggestion that the Secretary might make a stronger reference to that country. He is alarmed lest any such mention of Iran should provoke a Russian attack. See the attached memorandum of conversation.4
3.
More or less simultaneously with the receipt of these communications from London we received a telegram from our Ambassador in Tehran5 expressing apprehension at the Russian reaction in case a Declaration including Iran were issued before steps were taken to refute the Soviet claim of a right to introduce troops into Iran under the terms of the Irano-Soviet Treaty of 1921. The British Ambassador in Tehran has cabled his Government recommending against any statement about Iran at all, and it is presumably this which has influenced Bevin’s latest change of mind.
4.
We assume that it is these latest communications from London which the British Ambassador wishes to discuss with the Secretary tomorrow morning at 10:00.

The rapid changes in pace being made on this whole subject at the present moment leave us unable to make firm recommendations at the moment. This office continues to believe that a Declaration of the general type under consideration is desirable, but we feel we must know more of the reasoning behind the new British position and our own Ambassador’s telegram (attached) before we can go further. The British Embassy is requesting clarification from London and hopes for a reply by 9:00 tomorrow, while we have sent an urgent telegram to Mr. Wiley for an elucidation of his thinking.

  1. Dean Rusk, Assistant Secretary of State for United Nations Affairs, took on during the early months of 1949 the duties of Deputy Under Secretary of State, a post to which he was formally designated on May 26.↩
  2. See memorandum by Satterthwaite, March 8, p. 175.↩
  3. Not printed.↩
  4. Memorandum of telephone conversation between Bromley and Satterthwaite, March 14, not printed. (840.20/3–1349)↩
  5. Telegram No. 287, March 13, 1949, not printed. (840.20/3–1349)↩