Memorandum, State Department Summary of Telegrams

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY-QF STATE DECLASSIFLED 12065, Sec. March 3-402 6, WASHINGTON 1982 State DEB Dept. E.O. Guidelines, NLT, Date 9-6-85 SECRET December 14, 1951 SECURITY INF ORMATION By SUMMARY OF TELEGRAMS USSR We haye transmitted to Embassy Moscow a re- ply to the Soviet note of November 24th concern- ing the establishment of the Middle East Command. Our Charge is to present it today after consulting with his British, French and Turkish col- leagues concerning the presentation of their replies to similar notes which they receivedat the same time. Our note rejects the allegation that the MEC or the NATO is aggressive in intent, mentions the inherent right of self-defense set forth in Article 51 of the UN Charter, and expresses sur- prise at the Soviet assertion that the idea that any threat exists to the Mid- dle Eastern states is "absolutely groundless". Expanding on this astpoint, the note reminds the Soviets of Molotov's proposal of November 25, 1940 to German Ambassador Schulenburg to agree on spheres of influence be- tween the USSR and the Axis powers which provided, among other things, that the USSR be enabled to establish "a base for land and naval forces" within the range of the Turkish straits and that "the area south of Batum and Baku in the general direction of the Persian Gulf is recognized as the center of the aspirations of the Soviet Union. 11 The note adds that in the light of the Soviet attitude toward the Middle East area since the end of World War II the US can only assume that the aims set forth by Mr. Molotov in 1940 remains the policy of the Soviet Government. The note concludes by blaming the present world situation on the Soviet Union and reiterating the right of the various states to take measures of self-defense, either in- - dividually or collectively, in the interest of their own security and of inter- - national peace. IRAN We have pointed out to Embassy Tehran that if Iran proceeds to sell petroleum to Iron Curtain countries such as Poland and Czechoslovakia, as they have recently threaten- ed to do, it would create serious problems in connection with Public Law 213 (the Battle Act) which forbids US aid to all countries exporting strategic material to the Soviet bloc. The Department is contemplating delivering to the Iranian Embassy here an aide-memoire explaining this legislation and containing lists of commodities whose export to the Soviet bloc would make the exporting country ineligible for any US aid subsequent to January 24, 1952. SECRET SECURITY INEORMATION