Coll 28/97 ‘Persia. Diaries. Tehran Intelligence Summaries’ [‎198r] (395/749)

Pi i p nn&\
r i Av W r I
THIJiD^CUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY’S GOVERNMENT
PERSIA.
i 1
- ©‘v- : t/ » , .»•
^ j
July 6 , 1944.
SECRET.
WJfll tib* Comjri!merits 1
Section 1.
,
l j
Under
, j
^ ^ » V ^ . Jtiiftlitj —Ik !i a
E 3954/422/34] for Foreign Anairs Copy No. |
Sir R. Bullard to Mr. Eden.—'{Received §th July)
(No. 263.)
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. 25 for the period the 19th to
the 25th June, 1944, compiled by the military attache to this legation.
Tehran, 26^A June, 1944.
Enclosure.
Military A ttache’s Intelligence Summary No. 25 for the 'period \§th to 25th June,
1944.
(Secret.)
Political.
Persian A ffairs.
y. MiIi&kwJ?
beg
N
U) 'rc&L>rne vvo
Dr. MILLSPAUGH and all the members of his mission have resigned.
This followed on the presentation by the Government to members of the Majlis
for discussion the draft of a Bill cancelling the law of the 3rd April, 1943, from
which Dr. Millspaugh derived his autocratic powers. In his letter of resignation
he accuses the Government of having failed to carry out their obligations under
that law, of having withheld assistance and support from the American mission,
of having encouraged those elements who desired to destroy the mission or to
prevent it from working effectively, and of being unwilling even to consider the
evidence that could be produced of the good progress made by the mission. From
their previous conversations with Dr. Millspaugh the Government must have
realised that their proposed Bill would result in his resignation, but it seems that
they are trying to persuade him and other American advisers to stay on.
2. Dr. Millspaugh’s resignation takes effect from the 29th June. It is
unlikely that the Persian Government have any plans for the operation of the
various organisations and administrations now in charge of the American
advisers, of whom there are now thirty-nine. Since objections to Dr. Millspaugh’s
plans for the collection of cereals, the distribution of monopoly goods and the
levying of taxation was the cause of the agitation for the abolition of his powers
\ it is presumably intended to modify his policy in some respects. This will almost
certainly lead to great dislocation in the finance and economy of the country, to
inevitable delay in the improvement of the economic situation, if not to definite
retrogression. His resignation has been greeted with rejoicing by all corrupt
elements in the country.
3. A party calling itself Mehan has been formed bv the already existing
parties Peikar, Istiqal, Mehan Parastan and Azadikhahan. These are composed
mostly of young men with strongly nationalistic and xenophobic views, whose
policy is claimed to be pro-Persian and neither pro-British nor pro-Russian. The
new party is believed to have the support of the Shah. It has no representation
in the Majlis. Other attempts are being made to form parties to oppose the
allegedly pro-British Seyyid Zia, on the one hand, and the pro-Russian Tudeh
party, on the other.
4. Seyyid Abul Qasem Kashani, a well-known mullah who is deeply impli
cated in German plots in Persia and who has been evading arrest since last
August, was run to ground by the British security authorities an<j is now in
British custody. An attempt was made to persuade shopkeepers in Tehran to
close their shops as a protest against the arrest by foreigners of a prominent
priest and a question was asked in the Majlis, but on the whole the arrest has
been taken calmly. .
[55—25]
POL. DiPr,
B jul r •
>IA OFFICE