Coll 28/97 ‘Persia. Diaries. Tehran Intelligence Summaries’ [‎168r] (335/749)

THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BBl?ANNIC MAJESTY’S GOVERNMENT
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March 8, 1944.
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Section 1.
[E 1525/422/34] Copy No. | 2 2
Sir R. Bullard to Mr. Eden.—(Received %th March.)
(No. 92.)
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. 8 for the period of the 21st to
27th February, 1944, compiled by the military attache to this legation.
Tehran, 2^th February, 1944.
Enclosure.
Military Attache’s Intelligence Summary No. 8 for the Period
^Xst-^lth February, 1944.
(Secret.) ———
Persian Affairs.
Political.
THE Shah opened the Majlis on the 26th February. In his speech, after
referring to the Tripartite Treaty of Alliance, to Persia’s declaration of war
and to the Tehran Declaration, he stated that his first object was that the
Constitutional Law should reign supreme throughout the whole structure of the
country and that each of the three ‘ ‘ powers ’ ’ (he presumably referred to
the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary) should within the spheres
allotted to them by the Fundamental Law spare no effort to fulfil the duties
legally imposed on them so that the Government could devote all its energies to
the improvement of social and economic conditions, with particular regard to
public health and education. To this end it would be necessary to endeavour to
develop the resources of the country, particularly its agriculture and its mines.
His second object was to improve general security and to establish order
throughout the country. This required the strengthening and increase of the
security forces. It was also his object to ensure the independence of the
Judiciary. These objects could only be achieved by fruitful collaboration between
the Majlis and the Government. He, for his part, would always support pro
gressive and patriotic parties and all those who strove for the happiness of the
nation.
2. Amir Jang Bakhtiari wms elected temporary President of the Majlis. A
new election will be held as soon as the credentials of two-thirds of the Deputies
have been accepted. This will probably take three to four weeks, and no legisla
tion can be effected until it is completed.
3. The Soviet announcement that republics of the U.S.S.R. would in future
have freedom in their foreign relations has aroused particular interest in
Azerbaijan. His Majesty’s Consul-General at Tabriz reports that Moslem
opinion generally regards it not as a change of heart, but as a move of political
expediency. Always sensitive to any sign of increasing Soviet penetration, the
Azerbaijan Moslems fear that the new principle opens up possibilities of a
greater Azerbaijan; Armenians, on the other hand, welcome the step. They are
generally anxious to see the stabilisation of Soviet influence in Azerbaijan in the
hope that it will protect them against possible Persian reprisals.
4. The Ministry of the Interior has announced the release after investiga
tion of twenty-three" of the detenues arrested at the request of the Allies (see
Summary No."6/44, paragraph 3).
5. The absconding priest, Seyyid Abul Qasim Kashani, got enough votes
in the Tehran elections to put him among the successful candidates. In order to
give the Persian Government good grounds for declaring him ineligible for
election, if they wish to make use of them, the British Embassy has published
a statement showing Kashani’s intimate connexion with Mayer and with German
plots in Persia.
[51—43]