Coll 28/97 ‘Persia. Diaries. Tehran Intelligence Summaries’ [‎204v] (408/749)

2
(iii) The appointment of Hassan Khosrow Panah to be Farmandar and
Deputy Governor-General of Isfahan (see Summary No. 28/44, paragraph 6 )
has been cancelled.
(iv) Faqieh Zadeh, to be Farmandar of Qasvin.
(v) Sartip Muhammad Hussein Firuz has arrived in Shiraz and taken up
his appointment as Governor-General.
f
Persian Forces.
A pf ointment — Military.
6 . Sarhang Hussein Hashimi Hairi, to command the 9th (Ardebil)
Brigade.
Internal Security.
Western Azarbaijan.
7. The situation in Western Azarbaijan (see Summary No. 28/44, para
graph 9) is now reported to have quietened down as the result of Russian
insistence that the Kurds should return to their villages. But they did not
take this action until disorder had become widespread, many villages suffering
from Kurdish pillaging and several small gendarmerie posts being disarmed by
Kurds. The Soviet authorities refused to allow the Persian military authorities
to take action; reinforcements of two companies of Persian troops sent from
Tabriz to Khoi, with the permission of the Soviet authorities in Tabriz, were
sent back by the Soviet commander in Khoi; and the proposal of the Persian
Government to send reinforcements from Tehran to Rezaieh was vetoed by the
Soviet authorities. It was not until the Persian authorities had been thoroughly
discredited in the eyes of the Kurds and of the villagers and townspeople of*
Western Azarbaijan that the Russians said the word that would have checked
the Kurds at any time. The Persian Government has now appointed a military
governor-general for Western Azarbaijan.
Bakhtiari.
8 . It has been decided to modify the plans for the disarmament of out
lying sections of the Chaharlang tribes (see Summary No. 27/44, paragraph 9)
and to postpone action against the more truculent sections—the Abdulvand and
Hajivand—until they move down to their more vulnerable winter quarters.
Pressure is, however, to continue to be applied to Khajeh Mehdi Quli, of the
Moghui, to induce him to hand over his arms or more money.
Khuzistan.
9. The operation against the Mian Ah Arabs (see Summary No. 28/44, para-
grapn 12) has apparently been satisfactorily concluded. Over 600 rifles have
been collected and, with a few exceptions, the worst offenders have been arrested.
The troops have now begun the disarmament of the Chananeh and some of the
Western Chaab.
Russian Affairs.
10. Soviet policy in Azarbaijan is, in the opinion of His Majesty’s Consul-
General, fairly consistently designed to undermine and discredit the authority
of the Persian Government. If the recent disturbances at Tabriz (see Summary
No. 28/44, paragraph 8 ) and the disorder in Western Azarbaijan (see Summary
No. 28/44, paragraph 9) were not deliberately instigated by the Russians, they
were tolerated for the reason that they furthered Russian designs. They do
not attempt to conceal their opposition to the American advisers and they
thereby acquire some merit with the landlords and capitalists whose favour they
seek equally with that of the proletariat. The departure of British military
and U.K.C.C. personnel has been interpreted as being due to the Russian desire
to eliminate all other foreign influence from Azarbaijan. A further indication
of the desire to interest Moslems of Persian Azarbaijan in Soviet Azarbaijan
is the proposal to send 200 young Persian Moslems to Baku for a year’s training
in administration and economics.
11 . His Majesty’s Consul-General at Tabriz reports recent arrivals in
Tabriz of additional guns and tanks for the Soviet forces and an increase in the
number of aircraft from about thirty to about sixty. See also Summary
No. 28/44, paragraph 15.