Memorandum, State Department Summary of Telegrams

the OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE WASHINGTON State Dept. E.O. Guidelines, March 6, 9-10 1982 86 12065, October 7, 1952 By DEB NLT, Date SECRET SECURITY INFORMATION P SUMMARY OF TELEGRAMS IRAN Our Ambassador to Tehran reports that in Iranian circles basically friendly to the West there is a tendency to interpret the latest US and British messages to Prime Minister Mosadeq as a conciliatory gesture. At the same time there is considerable concern because the British note contained no reference to Mosadeq's counter- - proposals and a good deal of apprehension exists lest the extremists around the Prime Minister may persuade him to regard this omission as indicating a contemptous attitude toward the Iranian terms. Our Ambassador suggests the desirability of the UK making@really friendly press statement pointing out that the reason Dr. Mosadeq's counter proposals were not mentioned was that Mr. Churchill's reply was designed to clarify certain apparent misconceptions about the original US-UK message and expressing the hope that a reply will be sent in the light of these clarifications. The Embassy believes that if the British could be persuaded to make such a statement before Mosadeq had had time to make a firm decision, friends of the West in Iran might be able to persuade the Prime Minister to draft a comparatively friendly reply which would leave the door open for further discussion. Ambassador Henderson is under the grave apprehension that unless something is done quickly to strengthen the hands of our friends in Iran, the Prime Minister under the influence of extremists might take measures which would make it more difficult than ever for a rapproachment to be reached between Iran and the West. SOVIET In discussing French thinking on the Kennan affair, a UNION ranking Foreign Office official stated the belief that our Ambassador to the USSR was being made the victim of a new Soviet effort to divide the Western allies, particularly the US from the others. He noted the Russians had recently made obvious efforts in Moscow to be pleasant to the French and British while increasing their rudeness toward the United States, adding the French believed diplomats in Moscow other than Americans might possibly expect slightly better treatment in the near future. The French spokesman believes this effort to divide the West, particularly now that it has been high-lighted by Stalin's recent article, should be the Kremlin's top priority objective for some time and would be manifested in many ways. The jettisoning of the two militant French Communist leaders, Marty and Tillon, and the adoption of a more "bland" Communist line in France was one mani- festation, while the recent allegations of secret Franco-Soviet conver- sations, which Foreign Minister Schuman had categorically denied, were another. SECRET SEGURITY INFORMATION