Memorandum of Interview with President Harry S. Truman and the Shah of Iran

262 ma 299 PHO SECRET November 18, 1949 Casto ARCHIVES "NAMIONAL RECORDS AND Interview between the President and the Shah of Iran Present also was Ambassador Ala and the Secretary of State. SERVICE" The interview opened by the President's inquiring whether the Shah had enjoyed his visit to Annapolis, and saying that the young men, both at Annapolis and West Point, came from every Congressional District throughout the country and thus would give the Shah a good idea of what the young people of the United States were like. The Shah complimented the President on the Naval Academy and was looking forward to his visit to West Point. He spoke of the strong spirit of patriotism which existed in the United States and said that his own country also had a strong spirit of patriotism. He spoke of the long history of Iran, stating that it had had its 'ups and downs'. He spoke of the extent of the Persian Empire under Darius the Great, and appeared to be much struck by the fact that the President was familiar with this history in detail. He then spoke of periods of foreign influence and of the present dangers which came from the Soviet Union. This lead the Shah into the main theme of his talk. He described the situation in the Near East vis-a-vis the Soviet Union as being that Greece constituted the left flank, Turkey the center, and Iran the right flank. He spoke of the interest which we had shown in developing the capacities of the countries which wished to resist foreign domination and of the sums which we had spent in strengthening the left flank and the center in the Middle East. He then pointed out that from a military point of view this effort would be largely wasted if the right flank remained so weak as to invite attack there. He stated that he might be told that Iran was not ready at the present time to absorb military equipment. That might be true, but DECLASSIFIED E. O. 11652, Sec. 3(E) and 5(D) or (E) 2.23.25 Dept. of State letter, Bay NLT- HV: NARS Date 4-28-76