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Economic.
6. His Majesty’s Consul-General at Meshed reports that the total under
takings by landowners for the delivery of grain to Government amount to
14,050 tons of wheat and 5,800 tons of barley. Of this there has already been
delivered 6,200 tons of wheat and 2,100 tons of barley. 3,000 tons of barley have
been sold to Russia.
7. In Khuzestan, where the price of wheat has been freed, it has no^
reached the fantastic figure of 8,600 rials per ton, and even at that price wheak
is not obtainable. One of the largest landowners of the province, the Rais ut
Tujjar of Behbehan, who is believed to be hoarding on a large scale, has been
arrested and is to be brought to Tehran. In the Kermanshah Province, where the
harvest has been reasonably good, Government officials have failed to collect more
than trivial quantities of grain.
A appointments — Civil.
8. —(i) Mehdi Farrukh (Motassem es Sultaneh) (F.O. 66, M.A. 85) to be
Minister of Food. He was for a short time Minister of the Interior in Soheily’s
Cabinet.
(ii) Amanullah Ardalan (F.O. 27, M.A. 53) to be Under-Secretary of State
in the Ministry of Finance. He was Director of the Department-General of Food
Supply.
Persian Forces.
9. The press report of the annual passing-out ceremony of the Cadet School
states that 501 officers were commissioned into the army and twenty-one into the
air force. It is the custom in the Persian army to give a name to each batch of
newly-commissioned officers. The present batch is to be named “ Shihab ” in
memory of General Saifullah Shihab, who was murdered by an ex-cadet (see
Summary No. 34, paragraph 10), and its motto is to be “ Devoir.”
Many of the officers now commissioned will serve only for a period of one
year before passing to the reserve.
10. The Russian authorities have now agreed to the location of a brigade
of Persian troops, limited in strength to 1,500, at Tabriz. There are already
brigades in Eastern and Western Azerbaijan, so a divisional headquarters will
be located at Tabriz to command this the 3rd (Azerbaijan) Division. The Persian
General Staff has no brigade available to send to Tabriz and proposes to send
staff and cadres and to fill up the ranks by recalling to the colours those conscripts
who dispersed to their homes without completing their military service when the
Russians invaded x^zerbaijan. The Russians now profess a wish that Persian
troops should reach Tabriz without delay and a battalion may be sent as a
nucleus.
11. With Russian permission a battalion of Persian troops of the Rezaieh
garrison has moved to Khoi to check Kurdish lawlessness.
Internal Security.
South Persia.
12. The military measures to be taken for the prevention of possible
outbreaks of disorder in Pars, Kuh-i-Galu, Khuzestan and Lurestan are still being
discussed by the General Staff and the Government. Lack of transport is the
consideration most affecting any decisive action. Meanwhile the situation is
outwardly fairly quiet. In Pars the Khamseh tribes and some sections of the
Qashgai have begun their downward movement. The Boir Ahmadi are fioffiting
amongst each other and have had a fight with a section of the Qashquli. ^Some
of the Bakhtiari are looting villages. No effective action has yet been taken
to punish the tribe responsible for the murder of Messrs. Harris and Griffiths
but it is understood that some intrigues are now going on with adjacent tribes
to secure the surrender of the murderers. A military operation against the tribe
would be quite a serious undertaking for the Persian army, having regard to
its present condition and other commitments.
A zerbaijan.
13. The Soviet authorities have informed the Persian Government that
they are no longer opposed to the disarmament of the Kurds of Western
Azerbaijan provided it can be done without creating disturbance. The proviso
nullifies the permission.