Coll 28/97 ‘Persia. Diaries. Tehran Intelligence Summaries’ [‎303r] (605/749)

nuz ztscRf /HRy Oh s/m E forx
THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY’S GOVERNMENT ^
—
ZE/ir7:)J/l OFfic/-'
PERSIA.
July 25, 1945.
CONFIDENTIAL.
Section 1.
[E 5444/70/34] Copy No. 132
Military Attache's Intelligence Summary No. 27 for the Period §th July to
\5th JwZy, 1945.— {Communicated in Tehran Despatch No. 248 of l§th July;
Received in Foreign Office, 25th July.)
Persian Affairs.
Political.
THE political deadlock continues, the minority insisting that Muhsin
Sadr must resign, the majority refusing to be dictated to by the minority. The
majority have now sufficient Deputies to form a quorum but insufficient, in the
absence of the minority, for a question to be put to the vote. For this it is
necessary that three-quarters of the number of Deputies present in Tehran
should be present in the Majlis.
2. Seyyid Zia’s speech to his followers, mentioned in Summary No. 26/45,
paragraph 3, which was printed and widely distributed, called forth a violent
and abusive rejoinder in Pravda, later broadcast from Moscow. Seyyid Zia
himself, the Prime Minister and his Government, friends of the British and every
element in Persia that does not truckle to the Tudeh party are attacked with
much venom. The reactionaries, it says, have greatly intensified their activities
to suppress the movement for freedom and are organising terrorist groups,
arming the tribes and forming tribal unions with a view to attacking not only
the Tudeh party but also Russian interests. The publication of such an article
in an official organ of the Soviet Government is obviously meant to leave on
Persian minds the impression that Russia may resort to forcible measures if
Persians continue to oppose Russian designs. The Russians began to broadcast
the article from the Tehran Wireless Station in the period allotted to the
Irano-Soviet Cultural Society for cultural talks; but to hear themselves abused
from their own broadcasting station was too much for the Persian authorities,
who closed it down and announced immediately afterwards that the Russian
broadcast was not in accordance with the conditions on which the Allies were
allowed to use the station. In present conditions it is only the Russian version
of. the situation in Persia, a version grossly false in many important respects,
that reaches the world, since the Russian members of the Anglo-Soviet-Persian
censorship stop every press message that reports the true facts.
3. The broadcast from Angora stating that the annexation of Persian
Azarbaijan to Russia had been demanded by a provincial committee in
Azarbaijan (see Summary No. 26/45, paragraph 2) has forced even the Tudeh
papers to deny that there is any demand among Persian Azarbaijanis for the
secession of their province to Russia or any desire on Russia’s part to acquire
any Persian territory.
4. The Medical Congress (see Summary No. 23/45, paragraph 4 ), after a
week of daily conferences, was closed on the 8 th July. It was evident that the
idea of this congress had been forced on the Persians by the Russians to provide
the latter with an international audience for their propaganda.
Economic.
5. The Executive Committee of the Government Economic Council has
asked for a credit of 10 million tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. to pay for the 815 motor vehicles, surplus
to Allied military requirements, which have been offered to the Persian
Government by the American authorities.
Persian Forces.
A rmy.
6 . The Ministry for War has decided to construct houses in the vicinity
of barracks for the accommodation of officers. Five million rials are to be
borrowed from the army bank for this purpose.
[69—4]