Well, there was no harm in trying

From Small Wars, Faraway Places by Michael Burleigh. Page 266.

“Failing to sway Mossadeq, Harriman turned to the Shah, who was terrified of the mob, and then to Ayatollah Kashani, the leading clerical member of the National Front. When Kashani pointedly brought up the subject of an American oil man who had been murdered in Iran before the First World War, Harriman calmly replied: ‘Eminence, you must understand that I have been in many dangerous situations in my life and I do not frighten easily.’ ‘Well, there was no harm in trying,’ shrugged the cleric.