Memorandum of Conversation with Secretary of State Dean Acheson, Ambassador of Great Britain Sir Oliver Franks, H. Freeman Matthews, and George McGhee

non 430 5/5 254 DEPARTMENT OF STATE 196 coff Memorandum of Conversation DATE: July 12, 1951 SUBJECT: British Ambassador's Call Re Iran PARTICIPANTS: The Secretary of State Mr. H. Freeman Matthews - G Mr. W. Averell Harriman - Special Assistant to the President Mr. George C. McGhee - NEA Sir Oliver S. Franks - British Ambassador COPIES TO: to me s/s Amembassy, Tehran G Amombassy, London GTI BNA 1-1493 The British Ambassador called at his request. He first of all stated that he had, on reflection, discovered that the first question raised in the Aide Memoire which he had brought to the Department the previous even- ing had due to oversight not been discussed. This point involved the British proposal, subject to approval by the Cabinet, to announce a phased withdrawal of British technicians in Iran starting with those in the oil fields and ending with those in the Abadan Refinery. The withdrawal could be stopped at any time if the Iranian Government proved more cooperative in working out a settlement of the oil issue. The Department representa- tives confirmed that this point had not been discussed, whereupon the British Ambassador asked what the Department's views were in this matter. The Department's representatives replied that the proposal would in their judgment be wrong from a tactical standpoint, since the Department had always believed that the best policy for the British to pursue was to hold on in Iran as long as possible in the hopes of a turn for the better. Indeed this had, up to now, appeared to be the British policy. If, in fact, the British did not wish to withdraw and were announcing their intention of withdrawal only to induce the Iranians to back down, they ran the risk that DECLASSIFIED E.O. 12065, Sec. 3-402 State Dept. Guidelines, March 6, 1982 NCT y-16 By ban NLT, Date 12-10-P