791.003/145: Telegram
The Minister in Persia (Philip) to the Secretary of State
[Received 6:07 a.m.]
67. Reference Department’s 55, June 29, 7 p.m. Last evening I discussed with Teimourtache the Department’s formula respecting personal status. To my surprise, the Minister of the Court reacted favorably and drafted a substitute text which, it seems to me, embodies precisely the desired fundamental principles. I have tentatively agreed to this and translate it closely below. After the seventeenth word in the Department’s draft, namely, “status,” read thus:55
“and, whereas this question will be definitively settled between the two States in an establishment convention, it is understood that in matters of personal status, that is, all matters relating to (insert here [Page 742] Department’s enumeration of cases, concluding with word general) non-Moslem nationals of the United States in Persia shall be under their own national laws. If, notwithstanding, in connection with such questions the Persian courts should be invoked by one of the parties the said courts shall be obliged to apply American laws.
“In order to facilitate the undertaking of Persian courts in the cases above mentioned the competent American authorities will furnish, in case of need, necessary information relative to American laws.”
On July 9 Teimourtache will leave for a 2-month tour of Europe, so I desire urgently a decision by the Department on the text as it now stands. In case of its approval, I may then sign and exchange the relative agreements tomorrow morning, before the Minister’s departure.
- Quotation not paraphrased.↩