Coll 28/97 ‘Persia. Diaries. Tehran Intelligence Summaries’ [‎142v] (284/749)

r
Economic.
Finance has laid before the Majlis a Bill for the grant
forthp nd n Bread Section of the Ministry of a credit of 400 million rials
20 th M-iivll ai fi aurni S \^ e remainder of the current year, i.e., to the
estimated •' i a f^e preamble to the Bill it is stated that the amount
during theVnv 7 >w lie . /er ^e 350,000 tons of grain it was hoped to buy
520 rmlli nr • f. 11 .f as mi Fion rials. Against this it was expected tha^Bf
the ^nle t 1 eu a S d J? ave deen recovered by the end of the financial year from
Whip Wen ld h f P ubllc of jram and flour, leaving a deficit of 945 million rials,
the 400 met Z ^°p mill i on already borrowed from the National Bank,
vear if tin f n 11 now ‘ ls vG( an< ^ ^ niillion in hand. At the end of the current
Cte old!! ; m T-P 0lm 35( 1 ) ’ 000 tons were obtained, the Government would
and in hand for sa e p tG tbe P llbllc for consumption up to the next harvest,
and m addition a reserve of 50.000 tons.
.d" 1 ',, 1 he So . vlet authorities have agreed to facilitate the transport to Tehran
12 000 tonsf f VlnCeS \' n th< ; lr i Z0 ’u ° f 40 ’ 000 tons of wheat aIld barley and
1 f nCe ; Xgamst this they demand 40.000 tons of rice (for which they
cerM?n y m | lm P° rted goods—bO per cent, to be piece-goods) and the execution of
“sl ot" 47minio 0 n C r°iaTs rai ’ Way fr ° m Zinjan t0 Mianeh at an estiraated
eranh 2 fhnvet ° f F ^a nce bas issued orders (see para-
h landown ers living m Tehran who have delivered the whole
1 sur P, lus S ,ain now bring to Tehran the amount of the grain required
for one year s consumption of their families, and, having delivered it to one of
the Government depots, in sealed bags if they so wish, may then draw from the
depot their own bags or an equivalent amount of grain " The approved scales
for a year’s consumption are— ^wioveu SLa ies
Working men
Other adults
Children ...
Kilog.
250
150
75
A appointments — Civil.
8 . (i) Hussein Sami’i (Adib-es-Sultaneh) (F.O. 185
Governor-General of the 3rd Ustan (Eastern Azerbaijan)
M A 7 W K h yuli ^ rdal an younger brother of Ardalan, Amanullah (F 0 27-
M.A. 33), to be counsellor to the Persian Embassy at Angora. ’
M.A. 254) to be
a 3
Persian Forces.
A rmy.
9. Reports have previously been made in these summaries of the Shah’s
ambition to exercise the same control over the army as his father did, of the great
reluctance with which he agreed to the subordination of the General Staff to the
Ministry for Mar and of his distrust of the ambitions of the present Mmfster for
Wa, ! here is lit Je doubt that the appointment to his personal staff of General
Yazdan lanah as his principal A.D.C. and of Brigadier-General Razmara as
Chiei of his Military Secretariat was made with the object of establishing his own
influence o\er the Army m opposition to that of the Minister of War Both
these officers are hostile to the Minister for War, are opposed to the grant of
authority to the American advisers, and are now at heart unfriendly to the
utish. beneial Razmara, as was reported in Summary No. 42/43 paragranh 14
has recently established close relations with the Russians, whose opSn to
Ithe Amencan advisers is well known. 1 hey have both within recent monfhs
held the post of Chief of the General Staff and have some influence in the Army
which is not likely to be used m support of the Minister for War. Indeed it mav
be the Shah s object to force his resignation. In any case these mutually
the afmy lnfluences wlU ham P er the re-establishment of discipline and unity in
10 . The Bill for the engagement of General Ridley and a mission of thirty
American officers as advisers to the Persian Army—see Summarv No 39 /49
paragraph 4—has been passed by the Majlis. ‘ 7 ’
11 . An error was made in paragraph 7 of Summary No 42 The canaritv
of the 400 Ford trucks which the Persian army is acquiring is now sbatedho be
H tons and not 10 tons.