January 9th, 1970

To the Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom,

As you well know, recent tensions in the Persian Gulf have come to a head due to Iranian aggression in the area. As a result of this, we have deployed our military fleet and aircraft into the region to effect protection for our commercial assets, and the assets of our allies, as well as to prevent Iranian aggression from disrupting free trade and commerce in that area. We have also noted your military presence within and around a particular state currently threatened by Iran, the United Arab Emirates. We understand that you are empowered to the protection of that nascent state, and, to that end, we would like to confirm that our current military deployment is not to assist Iran or to extend any semblance of aggression or military advantage on our part, or the part of our allies, in that area. We wish to inform you of the presence of our fleet in this timely manner, and to assure you we have no aggressive designs on any nation, including the United Arab Emirates or any territories thereof, or on any of your citizens, ships, commercial institutions, territories, or other subjects of the United Kingdom. We have instructed our fleet and planes that they may only fire on enemies in self defense, and, as we do not consider you an enemy in this regard, we expressly have forbade any such targeting of your forces of the forces of the United Arab Emirates. We wish to make this absolutely clear to avoid any diplomatic embarrassment. We believe we are arranged in the same manner with regards to the Iranian affair, and do not wish for a confrontation to result from the confluence of our fleets in this area.

With warm regards,

Andrei Andreyevich Gromyko

Minister of Foreign Affairs