Coll 28/97 ‘Persia. Diaries. Tehran Intelligence Summaries’ [‎329r] (657/749)

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THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY^ GOVERNMENT
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PEKS1A. .
September 19, 1945.
SECRET.
Section 1.
[E 6978/70/3%]
Copy No. I o 2
Military Attache's Intelligence Summary No. 35, Secret, for the Period
3rd September to 9th September, 1945 .—{Communicated in Tehran despatch
No. 326 of 10th September; Received 19th September.)
Persian Affairs.
Political.
E The majority and minority in the Majlis have not succeeded in composing
their differences though the minority group did consent to attend sessions and
provide the necessary quorum. On the 2nd September the Minister of Finance
tabled a 2/12ths budget bill to cover the months of Murdad and Shahriwar
(23rd July-21st September). As was to be expected, the United States War
Department’s communique, referred to in paragraph 14 of last Intelligence
Summary, did not pass unnoticed and Deputy Ardelan asked why 2,600 troops
were needed to guard American military assets and why the Americans had
not asked the permission of the Persian Government to operate air lines and
aerodromes in Persia. The Minister for Foreign Affairs replied that the
American troops would only remain in Persia until American military assets were
disposed of. At the session of the 4th September Deputy Dr. Abduh, a member
of the Persian delegation to the San Francisco Conference, made a long and
carefully rehearsed speech in which he described the activities of the conference,
the drafting of the charter and its application to the Persia of to-day. After
referring gratefully to the recent speeches of Mr. Bevin and Mr. Eden he com
plained of the unwarranted interference by the Russians in Persia’s internal
affairs. He said that this interference was completely at variance with the spirit
of the charter, the same charter which only a few days previously had been signed
by representatives of the Soviet Government. Taking stock of the prevention
of the despatch of gendarmerie reinforcements to the north, the prevention
of the flight of Persian aircraft over Persian soil, and the Soviet refusal to
allow Persian vehicles and arms taken from Persian rebels by Persian officials
to be transported to Tehran, the natural reaction w r as to ask whether all the
sacrifices which had been made during the past few years had been made in vain.
The three great leaders who had signed the Tehran Declaration had borne witness
to the inestimable services Persia had rendered Russia in the darkest days of
the war, services which had been performed in good heart and good faith because
of the certainty that they would help in laying low every form of dictatorship
and tyranny. Persians were sure that the Soviet Government could not be aware
of the behaviour of their officials in the northern provinces of Persia because
it did not make sense that such behaviour should be countenanced by the Govern
ment whose leader had always stood in opposition to the use of force. Persia,
the Bridge of Victory, Persia, the country which had played the greatest of
roles in the achievement of final victory, had found nothing in the Bridge of
Victory, hailed with joy by the Russians, except misery and despair. Persia
and the Persians expected the Soviet Government and her other neighbours to
evacuate the country within six months in accordance with the terms of the
Tripartite Pact; that this expectation would indeed be fulfilled was certain
for the Persians were confident of the friendship and sense of justice of the
Russian Government. To Persia there was no difference between Great Britain,
the United States or the Soviet Union; those who chose to respect Persia’s rights
would be held dear in the heart of every Persian, but any attempt to ride rough
shod over Persian sovereignty would be odious in the extreme. Friendship with
all three of her great Allies was desired by Persia but no breach of international
law would be tolerated.
Other business at the same session included the approval by a unanimous
decision of the United Nations Charter and a bitter attack by Ali Dashti on
the minority whose behaviour he compared with that of sulky children Deputy
[69—139]