Coll 28/97 ‘Persia. Diaries. Tehran Intelligence Summaries’ [‎299r] (597/749)

n
IblOM* Ot
th# Tud«h party labour ©r&atilaatlon to th« ^^orkora
Rusolfc# Oroat Britain, Acsorloa and r'ranco (see Surmory lio - - ^
par* 13)# It include a Borisov end Kusnetsov, the former deacribed
as Vice -ires ident, the latter as Chief of the Soviet Workers*
TTnion, also Skhunctov, Ibrahimov, and Kadane 31 ior\ine Keva# rhey
were net at the enrc^i’OBie by noaibers of the ludoh l^hO'iT' or - .s-. i*
sat ion, who garlanded them with flowers#
i OOJIQmi O*
5 # The shider«6eeretary of Hoads and Oar ts*leations In
a very reasonsble statement to the Press on the return to Persian
control of the railway South of Tehran, paid tribute to the
cooperation of the Allies, particularly of the British# The
railway, he said, had been handed back in very n atiefactory
eonditionf the track and other operating facilities had bsen
greatly improved# Locomotives and rolling stock sufficient for
ror-sia’■ needs bno Bv* -n ,)ut at tr.® disposal of the Persian author!*
ties. He had heard suggestions that the Allies should hand over
all tha 1 comotive* and rolling stock that thsy had imparted#
This was of course qpilte unreasonable, firstly beoa^ise norm of
it was needed elaswhare for ths prosec»Ttion of ths war with
Japan and secondly, because the quantity was much In eveess Of
Persia 1 * needs# The Allie* had developed the railway to a
capacity of 31*931 tons a day, whereas Por+iMn requirements
were not likely to exceed 3,000 tons a day* Any material that
was decided to be surplus to Alllsd war needs would be offered
to the Persian Government at a reasonable price# Moreover the
British military authorities were offering 815 lorries at cost
price which would greatly Improve the transport facilities of
a country and, he hopeit «*lp t0 reduce H* **** ot living#
Ths Allies had hitherto fine* cad the railway# The Persian
administration was now faced with operating costs of 900 million
rials agalrwt an eatlmted revenue of 350 million rials# Thsy
had therefore been obliged to raise freights by 100^# Sven if
that brought in a revenue of 700 millions there would still be
a deficit "and this could be wiped out only by economies such g
as reduction of staff# Tin Railway now employed 35,OOO; at
least 13,000 would have to bo discharged# He 'mderstood that
the Russians were disposed to band back the railways north of |
Tehran! they had already reduced the msaber of Soviet officials
on ths railway by GO^* The Tfcder-Bceretary has of course been
attacked for admitting that the British and Americans had
treated the Persian railway administration with ffciroeaa.
6, It should have been noted in para Ho#3 of Suwnary
11c#25/45 that the Russian® control the Persian railway not only
from Taiwan to the Caspian Sea but also from Tehran to Mlaneh
and from Tehran t© Shahrud#
Appolntnent* - fLlyH#
7*
B# (i) Sartip Huhammad Masheri
All Muhammad Sadlq Shahbazi to be T+remn&w of Maku#
Head of the 4th Bureau,
General Staff, to be
Assistant Head of the
Advisory Department of
the Ministry for War#
(11) Barhang Ahmad Ihtisabian -
Head of the 1st Bureau,
General Staff, to be
Head of the Military
Secondary School, Tehran#
(in)/