Coll 28/97 ‘Persia. Diaries. Tehran Intelligence Summaries’ [‎329v] (658/749)

Tusi, making himself heard with difficulty over the increasing din, accused
Dashti of being a spy in the pay of a foreign Power. After this pandemonium
broke loose and Dashti was with some difficulty rescued by his supporters from
violence at the hands of his opponents and safely removed from the Chamber. At
the session of the 6th September Dr. Musaddiq asked for time in which to
explain the recent tactics of the minority group. This was refused. 1 he Minister
for Foreign Affairs then made a long speech on Persia’s foreign policy. 1 he
2/12ths budget bill was then sent to commission for amendments.
2. Most educated Persians are pinning their hopes on a favourable state
ment on the evacuation of Persia from the Foreign Secretaries Conference now
in session in London. They feel that in this lies their only hope of saving the
northern provinces from being incorporated in the U.S.S.R. and of preventing
further Russian interference in their internal affairs. The Minister for Foreign
Affairs is believed to have demanded permission for the Persian Ambassador in
London to attend the relevant discussions, hoping thereby that Persia’s case may
be represented more strongly and that more publicity will be achieved for Persia’s
present plight.
The Persian Army.
3. The Ministry for War has under consideration a scheme for bettering
the financial condition of Persian army officers. H.I.M. the Shah, at an audience
which he granted to the British military attache on the 3rd September, informed
him that the following benefits were to be granted :—
(i) An increment of pay for every year of service.
(ii) A free issue of summer and winter uniforms.
(iii) A children’s allowance.
(iv) Free housing in officers’ quarters to be built in the vicinity of barracks.
(v) The establishment of a co-operative society.
The B.M.A. took the opportunity to represent to H.I.M. that discontented
officers, or officers rendered desperate by financial difficulties, were a menace to
any army, that paper promises were insufficient, that the houses would take several
years to complete, and that much opposition to the scheme might be expected
in the Majlis who would probably insist on similar benefits and concessions for
civilian employees of Government.
4. There is little further news of the recent mutiny. One more officer, a
conscription official at Shahrud deserted but was captured. Two junior officers
in Meshed, whose complicity has been suspected, shot themselves There is
growing discontent at the manner in which officers’ antecedents and contacts
have been investigated and much criticism is being directed against General Arfa,
the Chief of the General Staff, for arresting officers on insufficient evidence or on
the false testimony of interested persons.
Communications.
5. The maintenance of the Zahidan-Meshed road is being handed back by
G.H.Q., India, to the Persian Government. The hand over is to be by sections and
is to begin on the 21st September.
Internal Security.
Pars.
6. The General Staff claim to have collected 115 and 128 rifles respectively
from the rival factions of the Haiyat Daudis and Lirawis. Some confusion
occurred when columns despatched by the Pars and Khuzistan Divisions arrived
simultaneously on the scene claiming that the other had no jurisdiction.
Azerbaijan.
7. The arrival in Tabriz of the military commission of enquiry (see
paragraph 13 of Intelligence Summary No. 33) was the occasion for the issue of a
manifesto by “ the people of Tabriz ” appealing for protection against Tudeh
oppression. The notices were at once torn down by the Tudeh. The situation
in Maragheh is unchanged with the Persian army garrison incarcerated in its
own barracks by Russian troops. The municipal accountant is reported to have
been beaten to death by the Tudeh. There is some talk of the formation of a
new Democratic party in opposition to the Tudeh, but well-informed sources
consider this to be merely an electioneering stunt to disarm the general odium and
suspicion attaching to the Tudeh on account of its identification with the