5 January 1970

Direct diplomatic cable to the Shah of Iran:

With regards to recent events in the Gulf of Persia, the Soviet Union, in its capacity as a regional ally and one with expansive economic interests in the Gulf of Persia and associated nearby areas, expresses extreme discontent at your recent actions in that area. Your actions have been belligerent, unnecessarily aggressive, and without diplomatic precedent. Indeed, it seems that you have resorted to using your military to resolve conflicts instead of using diplomatic channels. To that end, your military buildup, particularly following the recent aggressive war you partook in, is particularly alarming, especially in the context of increasingly hostile and tension-increasing actions by other actors in the area. As such, due to the increasing tension in the area as a result of your actions, we have had no choice but to deploy additional armed forces into the area, particularly in the Gulf of Persia itself, to maintain Soviet interests and prevent accidental harm coming to Soviet shipping, aircraft, commercial interests or similar subjects of our allies. We strongly urge you to reverse your course and to give up your irredentist claims on territory outside the current state of Iran, and to cease in the aggressive foreign policy you have recently adopted, particularly with regards to prosecution of wars far removed from direct Iranian interest. If you do not reverse your course, we will have no choice but to take additional steps to prevent your aggression from affecting our interests in the area. We expect that you will see sense and not continue down the destructive path that you have decided upon, and, considering our current relationship, you will understand that we do not wish for additional conflict in the area, but instead for a greater stabilization of the Middle East as a whole, of which your actions have particularly served to disrupt. Thus, we insist that you do not continue on your present, aggressive course, and instead work to solve disputes you may or may not have with other states in the area through diplomatic, rather than military channels.

With regards,

Andrei Andreyevich Gromyko

Minister of Foreign Affairs