Coll 28/97 ‘Persia. Diaries. Tehran Intelligence Summaries’ [‎264r] (527/749)

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THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY’S GOVERNMENT
PERSIA.
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March 20, 1945.
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Section 1.
Copy No. ° Lji
Military Attache's Intelligence Summary No. 10, Secret, for the period the
5th March to the 11th March, 1945. Communicated in Tehran Despatch Ao. / *
of the 12th March.—Received in Foreign Office 2Qth March.
Persian Affairs.
^ W.O .
Political.
1. Bayat, the Prime Minister, is expected to resign to-day. His supporters
had been falling away rapidly. His relative and supporter, Dr. Alusaddiq, had
come in for much unfavourable notice on account of a speech in the Alajhs and
an episode arising out of it which is described in a later paragraph in this
summary. The Tudeh party, having achieved their object in getting rid of
Dr. Millspaugh, had no further use for Bayat. the Shah is reputed to be
very displeased with him for accepting the Presidency The name given to each of the three divisions of the territory of the East India Company, and later the British Raj, on the Indian subcontinent. of the Irano-So\iet
Cultural Society and for being bounced by the Russians into giving a large recep
tion in honour of the Red army at the premises of the Persian Officers Club, to
which not only Persians but members of the diplomatic corps and Allied officers
were invited. The Independent and Freedom factions in the Alajlis had decided
to join forces to oppose the Government. Up to date there is no clear indication
of who his successor will be, but it is rumoured that the various factions ha\e
already ruled out as unsuitable two possibilities in the shape of Soheili and
Rajab Ali Mansour, at present Governor of Khorrassan.
2. On the 4th March, in the course of a debate on the submission of reports
by Majlis commissions, a Deputy objected to a previous remark by Dr. Alussadiq
to the effect that the Majlis Justice Commission had acquitted an embezzler in
acquitting Tadayyun, who had been impeached for accepting bribes in con
nexion with the last elections. Dr. Musaddiq requested that Padayyun s dossier
should be placed at his disposal for fifteen days, by the end of which period he
undertook to find ample evidence of Tadayyun’s guilt. He was told that, as a
Deputy, he had the right to study the dossier in the Alajlis but not to remove it.
The doctor, in one of "his hysterical outbursts, demanded a vote on his proposal
but was shouted down. In a fit of rage he left the chamber turning at the door
to remark that the Alajlis was a den of thieves. This unpalatable truth estranged
many of his, and hence Bayat’s, supporters. On the 6th Alarch a crowd of young
students, having heard of Dr. Musaddiq’s outburst and refusal to attend the
ALajlis, persuaded the hysterical demagogue to allow himself to be carried
by them in procession to the Alajlis. A posse of soldiers, drawn
up at the gates to prevent the entry of this crowd, opened fire after, it is said, a
shot had been fired at them by an unknown person in the crowd. In the inane
fashion prevalent in the Persian army when called out in aid of the civil power,
the troops fired a few rounds over the heads of the rioters and thereby killed a
young student who was peacefully watching the scene from the balcony of his
house some distance away. An enquiry into the incident is being held and, in
the meanwhile Sartip Gulshayan, the newly-appointed Alilitary Governor of
Tehran, has been suspended, and Colonel Shah Rais, his deputy, is officiating.
3. Some publicity has been given of late in the Persian press to the closing
of the internee’s camp at Rasht and deductions were drawn to show that, despite
the Russians’ magnanimity, the British continued to keep their numerous internees
in Tehran. To counteract this mischievous propaganda a press communique
has been issued by His Majesty’s Embassy, which explains that internees are
held jointly and that the British and Russian security authorities work in the
closest co-operation.
4. H.I.M. the Shah, in an interview given recently to the representative of
M.O.I,
the Evening Standard newspaper, stated that the best course for Persia to pursue
was to abstain from all negotiations or treaties leading to the according of
economic, financial and commercial concessions with other countries as long as
foreign troops were on Persian soil. *u~.,“
[64—26] .L. 4
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