711.91/106
The Secretary of State to the Chargé in the Soviet Union (Hamilton)
The Secretary of State refers to the Department’s confidential instruction no. 222 of August 10, 1943,20 transmitting a copy of a note of July 27, 1943, from the Soviet Embassy with respect to the presence of American troops in Iran. The War Department has informed the Department of State informally that it considers satisfactory the statements made in the final paragraph of the Soviet note under reference, but it points out that in any future discussions with the Soviet Government, it should be made clear to the latter that the expression “under general British guidance” refers to the fact that military control of the area within which American troops are operating is exercised by the British, and that American troops form an independent command, located within, but not a part of the “British Iranian-Iraq military district”. The War Department also states that “The primary British responsibilities are: (1) The control of priorities along the supply route as between aid to the Soviet Union and essential civil and military requirements, and (2) the security of the route; the primary American responsibility is the dispatch of supplies to the Soviet Union.”
- Not printed.↩