Coll 28/97 ‘Persia. Diaries. Tehran Intelligence Summaries’ [‎339r] (677/749)

THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPE
Y’S GOVERNMENT
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PERSIA.
October 18, 1945.
SECRET.
With the Compliments
of the
Section 1.
Under
Jer Secretary of Stats
for Foreign Affairs
[E 7839/70/34]
Military Attache's Intelligence Summary No. 38, Secret, for the 'period 2A:th to
30£A September, 1945 .—(Communicated in Tehran despatch No. 346 of
1st October; Received in Foreign Office ISth October)
Persian Affairs.
The Majlis.
1. At the session of the 25th September Dr. Kishawarz, with his head
suitably swathed in bandages, described the injuries which he had sustained in
his scuffle with the military. He gave his interpretation of parliamentary
immunity, attacked the Chief of the General Staff for having an English mother
and an English wife, complained that no less than thirty-six newspapers had
been suppressed, and wound up by saying that, in oppression and harshness, the
present military governorship in Tehran was just as bad as the tyrannical
dictatorship of Reza Khan \_sic~\. On the 26th September the Prime Minister
asked for a vote of confidence, but the Tudeh members and the minority walked
out leaving no quorum. The majority members persuaded them to return as
the minority leader, Dr. Musaddiq, was to speak. The two-twelfths budget bill
was then passed. The session of the 27th September was remarkable for a
fine speech by the Deputy Panahi, who ridiculed the idea of there being any
genuine separatist movement in Azerbaijan. Exposing the real nature of
the Azerbaijan Democratic party’s programme, he said they were democrats
in nothing but name. The freedom they claimed w T as merely freedom to oppress,
rob and murder their political opponents. He admitted that reforms in
Persia were long overdue, but said that they could not be affected by
terrorism. 1 wo other Deputies, Reza Hikmat ( Sardar Leader of a tribe or a polity; also refers to a military rank or title given to a commander of an army or division. Fakhir) and Misbah
Fatemi, spoke on much the same lines and described the high-handed acts now*
being perpetrated by the Tudeh in Azerbaijan, Gilan, Mazanderan, Khorasan
and, more recently, in Zenjan. Dr. Musaddiq pushed his long nose into the
debate and got it punched for his pains by the Minister of Finance who accused
him of untruthfulness. This affront to his dignity caused the doctor to burst
into one of his customary fits of sobbing. Accurately sensing the temper of the
House, the Government seized the opportunity to ask for a vote of confidence,
which it secured by seventy votes against forty, there being four abstentions. Thus
ends the first round of the fight betwen the Government and the Opposition which
began as long ago as the 17th July.
Internal Affairs.
2. 1 he Ministry of Justice is to set up a commission to hear complaints
by the Tudeh party against the Military Governorship and complaints by that
body and by individuals against the Tudeh.
3. The Government has announced that any of its nationals who have
sustained damage at the hands of the Axis Powers should state their claims
to the Tehran Chamber of Commerce.
4. The Ministry of Roads and Communications is reported in the press as
having asked the Soviet Embassy to begin discussions for the handing back of
the northern sections of the Iranian State Railway, i.e., Tehran-Bandar Shah
Tehran-Mianeh and Tehran-Shahrud. No mention was made of the section
Tabriz-Julfa.
5. The sub-governate (bakshdari) of Qasr-i-Shirin is to be raised to the
status of a governate (farandari).
6. A disastrous fire broke out on the 24th September in the bazaar quarter
of Kazvin and over 600 shops are said to have been destroyed,
7. A riot occurred in Zenjan on the 28th September between the Tudeh
and their opponents. The Governor was seriously wounded when attemptino- to
calm the crowd. ' i &
[70—144]