Minutes of Conversation between Nicolae Ceaușescu and Ambassador S.V.H. Sanandaji on the Six-Day War, Bucharest

Minutes of conversation between Nicolae Ceaușescu and Ambassador S.V.H. Sanandaji on the Six-Day War, Bucharest, 14 June 1967.

On 14 June 1967 Comrade Nicolae Ceaușescu, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party received the Iranian Ambassador to Romania, Soltan Hossein Vakili Sanandaji, at his request.

M. Plătăreanu, second secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, attended the meeting as translator.

After thanking comrade Ceaușescu for the honor of receiving him, SHV Sanandaji said that before moving to the topic for which he requested this meeting, he wanted to express Iran’s appreciation for Romania’s wise and realistic position on the Near East developments. Regarding these developments, the Ambassador expressed his satisfaction that the Romanian and Iranian points of view are very similar once again. On the one hand, they express their sympathy with the Arab peoples and especially with the Arab population displaced from Israel, and on the other hand, they [underline] the need to take into account the real situation in the Near East, including the existence of Israel, which cannot be contested.

Despite the good relations between Iran and some Arab countries, Iran cannot accept that a state is forcefully dismantled, because accepting such a principle would set [a precedent], as Israel would be eliminated today, and any another state tomorrow. Iran helps certain Arab countries like Jordan and Iraq with food, medicine, etc., but it cannot share the point of view of Arab leaders, who call for the dismantlement of the state of Israel. The only Arab leader who had a lucid and moderate reaction was the president of Tunisia, Bourgouiba.

The [Iranian] Ambassador then pointed out that to his mind, the responsibility for the armed conflict in the Near East belongs to the United Arab Republic, which asked UN troops to withdraw from its territory and carried out an aggression by blocking circulation in the Gulf of Aqaba.

As a matter of fact, the aggressiveness of the United Arab Republic is manifest also through the aggression against Yemen, where the Egyptian Air Force mercilessly bombs a defenseless population.

About the events in the Near East, the Iranian Ambassador also said that while the position of the Soviet Union, as a superpower, was understandable to a certain extent, Yugoslavia’s position could not be understood, as its leadership had previously adopted a realistic and wise political approach.

Comrade Nicolae Ceaușescu pointed out that [he] was pleased with the fact that the views of Romania and Iran regarding the situation in the Near East were similar.

The Romanian point of view regarding the resolution of conflicts in this part of the world, according to the fundamental interests of those peoples in question, is expressed in the Declaration of the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party and of the Romanian Government. The Declaration expressed the desire of our country that hostilities are permanently stopped and that clashes in this region are solved through negotiations between the parties involved.

We believe that for the solid and viable elimination of the existing differences it is absolutely necessary to undertake intense efforts to find some solutions which take into account the fundamental and legitimate interests of all peoples of this region.

Our country believes that to eliminate the source of tension in the Near East, [these countries] must start from the existing realities, from the need for the Arab states to coexist with Israel.

In this respect, it is absolutely necessary for Israeli troops to withdraw from the occupied territories and for Israel not to try to capitalize on its military successes to make territorial claims or of any other nature, which would aggravate the existing differences and would make it harder to solve the conflict. It is also very important that the problem of Arab refugees from Palestine is solved on an equitable basis.

The opinion of the Romanian government [is] that the problems of the Near East can be solved through negotiations between those directly involved, on a mutually acceptable basis, permanently giving up the use of force, because war cannot represent a means of solving clashes between states. It is deeply against the interests of the peoples in the Near East and it serves only the interests of international imperialism, which is not innocent regarding the existing tensions in this part of the world.

Comrade Nicolae Ceaușescu then expressed his opinion that it would be good for Iran to explain to [those] Arab countries with which it has friendly relations, the need to adopt a realistic position, to accept negotiations between the parties involved [in the conflict], to solve the conflict in the Near East.

S.H.V. Sanandaji pointed out that he fully agreed with the analysis made by Comrade N. Ceaușescu regarding the events in the Near East and that his country would make all efforts possible to contribute to the peaceful resolution of the conflict.

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