Coll 28/97 ‘Persia. Diaries. Tehran Intelligence Summaries’ [‎211r] (421/749)

THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OP HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY’S GOVERNMENT
PERSIA. September 5, 1944.
vQitu. jm. -—;—: r
Section. 1.
J J Copy No. 125
J
Sir R. Bullard to Mr. Eden.—(Received bth September.) • 7^ ^
(No. 338.) . . '
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. 33 for the period of the 21 st to
27th August, 1944, compiled by the military attache to this legation.
Tehran, 28£A August, 1944.
SECRET.
[E 5426/422/34]
Enclosure.
M^ilitary Attache's Intelligence Summary Mo. 33 for the Period 21 August to
21th August, 1944.
Persian Affairs.
(Secret.)
Political.
1 . The Government resigned on the 26th August and Sa’ed, promised the
support of eighty-five Deputies of the Azad, Mihan and Ittifaq-i-Melli groups,
has been entrusted with the formation of a new Cabinet. Presumably the three
groups above mentioned will dictate its composition. Some Deputies, perhaps
a majority, are demanding a complete change. Jt is unlikely that the unity of
these groups in support of Sa’ed or of any aim will last for long, and it is generally
considered that the new Cabinet, however composed, will be but a stop-gap
Administration. Seyyid Zia is being spoken of more and more as the eventual
most suitable successor to Sa’ed; but Seyyid Zia himself does not think that
he can yet count on sufficient solid support. Relations between him and the
Shah have recently improved outwardly, and Seyyid Zia’s supporters find cause
for optimism in a recent long interview he had with the Shah which he reported
as having been satisfactory and as having resulted in a large measure of agree
ment on important points of policy. The Russians, however, show no signs of
reducing their opposition to Seyyid Zia, and it is too early yet to accept as genuine
the Shah’s apparent inclination towards faith in his virtues.
2. An analysis of the 128 Deputies who have taken their seats in the Majlis
shows that sixty-five are themselves landowners, thirteen come from the commer
cial and industrial classes, four are priests. Of the remaining forty-six a number
have been elected through the influence of landlords and merchants whose
interests they serve. The majority of the Deputies, therefore, represent no
political party, nor do they stand for any political principle, nor even for the
interests of the constituency from which they have been elected. Indeed, some
of them are not even known in their constituencies. It is consequently not
surprising that attempts to form a stable party in the Majlis have hitherto met
with no success. Groups are formed which coalesce or disintegrate for sonm
purely temporary or local reason. The 14th Majlis has shown even less sense
of public responsibility and less unity than the 13th, and during the six months
of its life it has passed practically no legislation. (See also Summary No. 30/44.
paragraph 1 .) The three years of parliamentary government that the country
has experienced since the abdication of Reza Shah ha ve do ne nothing to dispel
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