Coll 28/97 ‘Persia. Diaries. Tehran Intelligence Summaries’ [‎60r] (119/749)

THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY’S GOVERNMENT
PERSIA.
SECRET.
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December 29, 1942.
Section 1.
X 4
»* . 160
[E 7655/19/34] Copy-No.
Sir R. Bullard to Mr. Eden.—^ Mecei'\etyty , &emberfi §.)
(No. 426.) A' 1 <- tt • iv a ■ 4 - j
HIS Majesty’s representative presents his compliments to His Majesty s
Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and has the honour to transmit
herewith a copy of Intelligence Summary No. 50 for the period the 9th to
15th December compiled by the military attache to this legation.
Tehran, December 15, 1942. n
Enclosure. ^ ^ 1
(Secret.)
Military Attache's Intelligence Summary No. 50 for the Period
December 9-15, 1942.
Persian Affairs.
Political.
ON the 8 th December a demonstration before the Majlis buildings, staged,
there is little doubt, by the Prime Minister’s political enemies, developed into
rioting in the afternoon after some hours’ inactivity on the part of the police ana
military, who had been called out in the morning. In its eailv stages it was
confined largely to boys of the Government schools, but later in the day rougher
elements joined in. Some damage was done to shops and restaurants, and the
Prime Minister’s private house was looted. Order was not restored until the
police and military had opened fire on the mobs. I he number of casualties is not
yet known. . . . . , ,
2. Attempts have been made to link up this demonstration with the shortage
of bread, but there are good reasons for suspecting that it was organised from
the Palace and that the police and troops had had orders from some high authority
outside the Government not to interfere with the demonstrations. Looting,
except perhaps of the Prime Minister’s house, was not part of the programme of
the originators of the demonstration, which was clearly directed against the
Prime Minister and was meant to bring about his resignation. The bhah
telephoned several times during the day to the Prime Minister advising, and even
demanding, his resignation, but the Prime Minister, fortified by the advice of the
British. Soviet and American representatives, declined to do so.
3. The Shah’s distrust of the Prime Minister Gee Summary Np.-48_/42,
ID ^ paragraphs 1 and 2 ) has undoubtedly been accentuated by malicious reports given
to him by the Prime Minister s enemies. Among these must be counted the Chiei
of the General Staff, General Yazdan Panah, who has never made any secret of
his opposition, which he bases on his not unjustifiable contempt for all Persian
politicians, to an extension of Cabinet control of the army or any reduction in the
Shah’s powers as Commander-in-chief. The Prime Minister is credited with a
desire to establish full control of the army by the Ministry for War. There is
little doubt that both the Shah and the Chief of the General Staff would welcome
the retirement of Qavam-es-Sultaneh and his replacement by a less forceful
personality. . „ ^ ,
4 . A complication has been introduced into the schemes oi political
intriguers by the return to a position of authority of Sipahbod Ahmadi (M.A. 23;
F.O. 16). When the riot appeared to be out of control on the 8 th December the
Shah, who by that time had become very anxious, proposed that the Sipahbod
should be appointed to restore order. This was approved by the Prime Minister
after consultation with His Majesty’s Legation, but is now believed to be
regretted by the Shah, as the Sipahbod is not friendly to the Shah’s most trusted
adviser, the Chief of the General Staff. The Sipahbod is now Military Governor
of Tehran and commander of all the forces in the capital. He has re-established
order, closed the Majlis, suppressed all the press, and made over 100 arrests,
; *■ . 437—37
| INDIA OFFICE The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors.