MIDDLE EAST ALARM OVER POSSIBILITY OF REMAINING UNDEFENDED

Grey River Argus, 25 March 1949, Page 5

MIDDLE EAST ALARM OVER POSSIBILITY OF REMAINING UNDEFENDED

(Rue. 10.30) WASHINGTON, March 24. When questioned by the Press, the Secretary of State, Mr Dean Acheson, left open the possibility that the United States might regard favourably a Middle East Defence Treaty, comparable to the Atlantic Pact. He said that, for the moment, he had no comment on that possibility. Asked whether the United States had formally conveyed to the Governments of Greece, Turkey and Persia the ideas which he expressed to-day, Mr Acheson said not to his knowledge. The Associated Press says it was learned from other sources that such reassurances had been expressed by American diplomats in Athens, Ankara and Tehran, when the authorities in those capitals become alarmed that the United States might be weakening in its concern over their part of the world.