888.2553/8–554: Telegram
No. 491
The Ambassador in Iran (Henderson) to the Department of State
priority
Tehran, August 5, 1954.
311. Following is text joint Iranian-British statement being released Tehran August 5 on payments:
“Her Majesty’s Government and Iranian Government have reached general agreement in principle1 on arrangements which will govern payments relations between Iran and sterling area, and which will come into force on ratification oil agreement with consortium.
- 2.
- Under payments arrangements, all transactions, including those of consortium with Iran and NIOC shall normally be settled in sterling and Her Majesty’s Government will take necessary steps to give Iran full ‘transferable account’ facilities. Her Majesty’s Government have also undertaken provide Iran with facilities for converting sterling into dollars.
- 3.
- While these arrangements will have await ratification oil agreement, Her Majesty’s Government have undertaken as special measure to remove, with immediate effect, certain restrictions existing on sterling payments between Iran and non-dollar world”.
Henderson
- The agreement in principle was spelled out and formalized in an exchange of notes on Oct. 25, 1954, between the British and Iranian Governments.↩