Mr Bacon, PRU
нев опасн 15 AN 198 CONFIDENTIAL
PA
Di W",
Cir
N||||
道
Mr David Howell, FAC Chairman, called on the Secretary of State this afternoon. I was present for most of the discussion, and record salient points below. At the end they had a short private talk.
Japan
Mr Howell said that he would be going there in April, and wished the Secretary of State success next week. He recalled the particular links between Japan and Wales.
East/West
Mr Howell said that the Committee would try to avoid being drawn into defence matters, when looking at East/West. Their study would begin this Spring. Some members were keen to look at Eastern Europe in detail, but one had to make a clear sighted assessment of how important this area was to British interests. The Secretary of State mentioned his own quartet of 1987 speeches, and I have sent Mr Howell a copy.
Gulf
Mr Howell made clear that the Committee's examination of this would go beyond the war to include the states of the peninsula in their own right. He had recently paid a private visit. The Secretary of State counselled the FAC against visiting just one of the belligerents. He did not think that a visit to Tehran would be wise at present, given the fragile nature of UK/Iran relations. Some at least in Tehran would misinterpret this signal. Mr Howell accepted this advice, adding that he had not himself been at all keen at the prospect of visiting Iran. But he knew that some in the FCO took the view that Iran was too important for Britain to ignore in the long term. The Secretary of State briefly explained the background to our own policy. Finally Mr Howell recalled a bizarre episode at Chequers in about 1981, when Lord Carrington had been much exercised about an attempt by the Sultan to involve Britain in a planned attack on Iranian aircraft.
DJEAAP
CONFIDENTIAL
/Ethiopia