Coll 28/97 ‘Persia. Diaries. Tehran Intelligence Summaries’ [‎91v] (182/749)

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critical. Of the 25,000 tons of wheat offered by the Russians for Tehran, 10,000
tons have been promised for delivery early in May.
5. The engineers of the Ministries of Agriculture and of Industries and
Mines have struck for more pay.
A ppointments — Civil.
6—(i) Dr. Misbahzadeh, to be Director of the Press and Propaganda ^ ^
Department. . .
(ii) Mustafa Sami’h to be Head of the Protocol Department of the Ministry
for Foreign Affairs.
(iii) Dr. Ali Akhbar Daftari, to be Counsellor at the Persian Legation in
Washington.
(iv) Muhsin Rais (F.O. 172; M.A. 239), to be Persian Consul-General in
India.
Persian Forces.
7. The mission of Persian officers that visited the Middle East Command
(see Summary No. 11/43, paragraph 13) has returned, very well pleased with
their visit and much impressed with what they saw. there is no doubt that
the visit has had a good effect and that it' has served a ^ useful purpose.
^ A tentative request has already been made by the Chief of the General Staff that
Persian officers should be allowed to attend some of the courses of instruction
held in the Middle East Command. Evidence of what British officers had achieved
in the administration of the Egyptian army has inclined the officers of this
mission more favourably towards giving authority to an American Mission.
Internal Security.
Fars.
Mllllavu <3 pci
. . 8. It now appears that General Shahbakhti is unlikely to take direct action
" ’ , A yi' ^e^'jagainst Nasir. The time has passed when Nasir could be dealt with separately
2 /rTrom the main body of the tribes, and the Persian forces in Fars are neither strong
enough nor mobile enough to deal effectively with a situation where the opposition
of the Qashgai tribe as a whole is provoked; particularly having regard to the
freedom of movement the tribes have in the summer. He is perhaps right in his
appreciation that if he were to embark on offensive operations now it would lead
to disorder he could not control and to insecurity on the road. He still talks
of disarming the tribes, but it is doubtful whether he is likely to carry that to
the point where it would provoke the hostilities that both sides are anxious to
avoid. If a consistent policy were followed a fair measure of Government control
could probably be established over the Qashgai by progressive stages without
arousing more opposition than the Persian forces could overcome. Various
chiefs, including the Kalantars of the Mamassani and Dushmanziari, continue
to give assurances to His Majesty's Consul at Shiraz that they do not wish to
act against the interests of the British and Persian Governments. For the time
being the security of the road is satisfactory.
Bakhtiari.
9. No developments have been reported of the Izeh incident referred to in
Summary No. 14/43, paragraph 11. It now appears doubtful whether Abul
Qasim Bakhtiari was there. According to a letter he had written to the
Persian authorities at Isfahan he was at Ardal, and strongly disapproved of the
rebellious action of the tribesmen concerned.
Khuzestan.
10. Up to the 9th April, when the attention of the Persian military authori
ties in Khuzestan was diverted from the Arabs to the situation at Izeh, 42 rifles
had been handed over by the Beni Turuf.
British Affairs.
11. The Minister of State visited Tehran from the 13th to 17th April.
12. For months past serious inconvenience has been caused to British
military communications in Persia by repeated thefts, amounting in all to a
very considerable amount, of telephone wire. As it has always been British
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