611.9131/118: Telegram
The Chargé in Iran (Engert) to the Secretary of State
[Received 2:52 p.m.]
182. Department’s 55, May 10, 11 p.m. [a.m.]. Under date of May 30, 1 addressed a note to the Minister for Foreign Affairs reminding him of my note of March 28, 1938, which embodied the substance of the Department’s telegram No. 8, February 10, 1938,80 but to which I had never received a reply. By a note dated July 27, 1940, the Foreign Minister now informs me that the Iranian Government accepts the two points mentioned in the first paragraph of the Department’s No. 8, but he refers to the conversations reported in the second paragraph of my telegram 93, May 1, 1940, and adds “Inasmuch as my Government has compensation agreements with certain foreign countries the principles and conditions of which are naturally different from general commercial conventions it cannot accept the same conditions and principles with respect to other countries or agree that other countries should benefit from the advantages of the said agreements without concluding with Iran agreements embodying the same conditions and principles.”
As soon as the Department receives my despatch 1862, July [June] 25, 1940, a brief telegraphic reply would be appreciated by the Iranian Government whether the draft submitted therewith could form the basis of negotiation.