Office of the Historian

270. Memorandum From Harold H. Saunders and John W. Foster of the National Security Council Staff to the President’s Special Assistant (Rostow)1

Washington, March 18, 1968.

SUBJECT

  • Hoveyda’s “Strange Series of Coincidences”

You asked if there is anything in the “strange series of coincidences” cited by Iranian Prime Minister Hoveyda in the attached cable.2 We can’t rule out the possibility that something is going on, but this looks more like a case of adding two and two and getting sixteen.

There has been student unrest. It started because of difficulties with university administrators and the political content has been low.

There was a teacher’s strike, but as far as anyone knows, pay was the only issue.

The Iranian government is worried about former Prime Minister Amini’s activities, but we are unaware that he has done anything, and there is no indication that he is involved with the mullahs.

Many of the mullahs have always been anti-Shah, but there doesn’t appear to be any unusual activity.

[Page 485]

The Iranians are having trouble with the oil consortium, but no one has discovered any tie between the oil companies and either Amini or the mullahs.

The odds are that Hoveyda—and probably the Shah—have, in typical Iranian fashion, combined a few unrelated events, some rumors and their own unfounded suspicions into a conspiracy. They had suspected the U.S. Government was involved, and, despite what Hoveyda told Armin Meyer, our protestations of innocence are unlikely to have convinced them completely. But Armin’s latest audience with the Shah suggests that we’ve quieted suspicions for the moment.

The best explanation of all this Iranian edginess is Armin Meyer’s guess as to why the Shah called his ambassador to meet him in Switzerland and then had the ambassador bring back a bag full of crazy charges against Armin. If you haven’t seen this, it’s worth your time as background eventually for the Shah’s visit (also attached).3

John
Hal
  1. Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Country File, Iran, Memos & Miscellaneous, Vol. II, 1/66–1/69. Secret; Nodis.↩
  2. Telegram 3681 from Tehran, March 9, is attached to the source text but not printed.↩
  3. A copy of telegram 3626 from Tehran (Document 264) is attached.↩