Top Secret CIA Digest: May 8, 1951
| The Mossadegh Project | May 20, 2025 |
Excerpt from a CIA document about Nuri al-Said (1888-1958), the Prime Minister of Iraq who was later assassinated, and the Iran oil crisis.
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
OFFICE OF CURRENT INTELLIGENCE
DAILY DIGEST
“C” IRAN. Iraqi Premier’s Suggestion on Iranian Oil.
[excised box to the left]
Iraqi Premier Nuri Said has suggested to the UK and US Ambassadors in Baghdad that Iranian Foreign Minister Kazemi might be persuaded to exert a modifying influence on Premier Mossadeq in the oil issue.
[Bagher Kazemi]
Nuri suggested that he might be persuaded to do so through his many friends in Turkey. Commenting that Nuri’s action is evidence of his basic desire to help solve the oil problem in Iran, US Ambassador Crocker
[Edward S. Crocker] proposes that Nuri’s suggestion be considered. [excised line here]
COMMENT: While Nuri, who has long been labelled pro-British, may have the best of intentions for resolving the oil problem in Iran, it is questionable whether this proposal has much merit. Kazemi, who has served as Iranian
Ambassador to Iraq and Turkey, probably made many friends in both countries during his tenure as Ambassador, but has subsequently been reported as persona non grata in both countries.
[very large area, possibly about Iran, excised here]
• Declassified by the Central Intelligence Agency on April 18, 2003.
Click here for PDF of original document.
[Transcribed and annotated by Arash Norouzi]
• “1. This summary of significant reports has been prepared primarily for the internal use of the Office of Current Intelligence. It does not represent a complete coverage of all current reports in CIA or in the Office of Current
Intelligence.
2. Comments represent the preliminary views of the Office of Current Intelligence.
3. Marginal letter indications are defined as follows:
"A" — Items indicating Soviet-Communist intentions or capabilities.
"B" — Important regional developments not necessarily related to Soviet/Communist intentions or capabilities.
"C" — Other information indicating general trends and potential developments.”
• Another section covered the April 30th comments of Turkish Ambassador Feridun Cemal Erkin: “In view of the Iranian situation, and other international developments, Erkin expressed the fear that in the absence of a firm security
commitment, Turkey would be obliged to take measures to protect its own security.”
• Apropos of nothing: “I don’t know much about (former Premier Mohammed) Mossadegh, but from what I read about him in the papers, I have more respect for him than any Iraqi politician—including Nuri Said.”
— M. Z. Frank in The Jewish Post, Nov. 19, 1954.
Related links:
Iranian Legislators Take Refuge In Iraq | AP, Sept. 28, 1951
Turkey Gloomy Over Outlook In Iran | Montreal Gazette, May 21, 1951
India’s Attitude Toward the Anglo-Iranian Dispute | CIA, Oct. 1951
MOSSADEGH t-shirts — “If I sit silently, I have sinned”
