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Coll 28/97 ‘Persia. Diaries. Tehran Intelligence Summaries’ [159r] (317/749)
The record is made up of 1 file (373 folios). It was created in 9 Jul 1942-8 Feb 1946. It was written in English and French. The original is part of the British Library: 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. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
IVt
IN
PERSIA.
J£. P* . #
/'< 0 3 4 I-
February 7, 1944.
SECRET.
With the
Section 1.
df the | n „ ,, j
Upfl^i 5 Seaketary- ©f c* - J
815/422/34]
ter Foreign Affalrm
Copy No.
Sir R. Bullard to Mr. Eden.—(Received 1th February)
( No - 38.) ,
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. 3 for the period of the 17th to
23rd January 1944, compiled by the military attache to this legation.
Tehran, 2^th January, 1944.
13 MAP
THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY’S GOVERNMENT
1044
9 9
(Secret.)
Enclosure.
Military Attache s Intelligence Summary iSo. 3 for the Period
Ylth to ‘ISrd January, 1944.
Persian Affairs.
Political.
1 . All arrangements had been made for the opening of the Majlis on the
22nd January; invitations and programmes had been issued and the streets
sanded for the Royal procession. On the 21st January it was announced that
the opening had been postponed. This came as no surprise to many people as
it was well known that the Shah, the Russians and certain Deputies were in
favour of delaying the opening for various reasons. The pretext given was that
there were insufficient Deputies present to form a quorum. Sufficient Deputies
could, in fact, have been collected, but some were induced to absent themselves
from Tehran. For some days previous it had been evident that the Majlis would
not be opened if the Shah could prevent it. He had disquieting reports of the
temper of a number of the Deputies in Tehran; he feared criticism of the changes,
well known to have been due to his insistence, made in the Cabinet during the
interregnum, and questions regarding the shooting of a striker at the munitions
factory
An East India Company trading post.
by General Shafai, the Shah’s nominee to the Ministry of the Interior, an
incident about which the public is exercised because no public enquiry has been
allowed. He is obsessed by fear of Seyyed Zia and the possibility of his forming
a strong constitutional group of Deputies in the new Parliament that might be
obstructive to his aspirations to autocracy. The Shah has been investigating the
possibilities of finding pretexts for invalidating the election of Seyyed Zia, and
he had seriously considered appointing in the place of Soheily, with whom he is
very discontented, a new Prime Minister or a Council of State who would declare
all the elections to be illegal because of official interference and other malpractices.
He proposed then to issue by decree a new Electoral Law which would govern the
new elections. Elated as he still is by his own evaluation of Stalin’s sentiments
towards him. he was with some difficulty persuaded that there was too much
danger in this unconstitutional procedure. Following so soon on the enforced
inclusion in the Cabinet of his own nominees it would inevitably have been
interpreted, possibly correctly, as an attempt on the Shah’s part to secure a
subservient Majlis on the pattern so skilfully elected by his father.
2. To the Russian Seyyid Zia is still a bogey—the chosen instrument of
British Imperialism. It is difficult to see where they find the smallest evidence
to support this belief. His professions seem revolutionary enough to satisfy
extreme Socialists, but the Tudeh press continues to attack him and the Russians
to frighten the Shah with his alleged ambitions.
3 . The public and press are much excited by the publication of the news
that a Persian pilgrim was decapitated by the authorities of Saudi Arabia at
Mecca after being charged with defiling the shrine. The Government has issued
a communique giving details and announcing that a strong protest had been made
[50 54]
<y 4
About this item
- Content
Copies of intelligence summaries prepared on a weekly basis by the Military Attaché at the British Legation in Tehran, and received by the 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. via the Foreign Office. The file’s contents follow on chronologically from Coll 28/97(1) ‘Persia. Diaries. Tehran Intelligence Summaries.’ (IOR/L/PS/12/3503). The summaries cover a broad range of information relating to wartime conditions in Iran: the activities of the Iranian government, including political instabilities, the resignation and appointment of governments and government ministers; the financial situation in Iran, including the reappointment in 1942 and subsequent economic policies of Arthur Chester Millspaugh, who was recruited to organise the government’s finances; internal security in Iran, including increasing political unrest in the north of the country (specifically in Azerbaijan) brought about by a growing Soviet presence, wartime propaganda, and the activities of the Tudeh Party of Iran; concerns over wheat production and supply, including reports of food shortages and famine conditions in 1942/43; the Iran military, including its movements, activities and appointments; foreign interests (primarily USA, British, and Soviet); reports of the numbers of Polish refugees in camps in Tehran, Isfahan and Ahwaz [Ahvāz].
The file contains a single item in French, being a copy of the declaration of the Congrès National d’Azerbaidjan (Nation Congress of Azerbaijan, f 359).
- Extent and format
- 1 file (373 folios)
- Arrangement
The file’s contents are arranged in approximate chronological order, from the front to the rear of the file.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 375; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio.
- Written in
- English and French in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/12/3504
- Title
- Coll 28/97 ‘Persia. Diaries. Tehran Intelligence Summaries’
- Pages
- front, front-i, 2r:52v, 54r:104v, 106r:110v, 112r:192r, 193r:241v, 242v:261v, 262v:273r, 275r:339v, 341r:358v, 360r:360v, 362r:363r, 365r:369v, 370v:371r, 372v:374v, back
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence