641.74/7–1354: Telegram
No. 1342
The Ambassador in Egypt (Caffery) to the
Department of State1
57. The Prime Minister asked to see me this evening. He indicated that the British proposals in general are acceptable except for three points: Availability period, evacuation period and inclusion of Iran. He reminded me of our conversation last January when he agreed to the inclusion of Turkey against, he said, the unanimous opinion of his fellow officials. He said also that it was on my insistence that he had agreed to extend the availability period from five to seven years. He said he explained this to the “free officers” who reluctantly at the time backed him up. “Although I have considerable influence with them,” he remarked, “I have taken soundings and they will not back me up to extend the availability period beyond seven years”.
I asked him if it were possible to do something in a round-about way to extend the 15–month evacuation period. He first said he was committed to that period also with the officers, but later on my insistence admitted that he might do something about it if combat troops were withdrawn within 15 months.
I said, “What about Iran?” He said, “You know our people do not like Turkey. I made them swallow Turkey, but I cannot make them swallow Iran also”.
Needless to say, I warmly recommended the British proposals and asked him to do his best to have them accepted, but he kept repeating what I have reported above. Aside from these three points, he did not seem to believe there would be any real obstacles.
- Repeated to London as telegram 13 and to Paris as telegram 1.↩