Coll 28/97 ‘Persia. Diaries. Tehran Intelligence Summaries’ [‎348r] (695/749)

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(T • j 2 J' *! 1946
THIS DQCU M ENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY’S GOVERNMENT (P^)
v'T
SECRET
PERSIA.
SECRET.
With the Compliments
of the
Under S«cr*t*rv of State
for Fortsiftn AHair»
1^1
November 2, 1945.
Section 1.
E 8319/70/34]
Copy No.
E> ^
Military Attache's Intelligence Summary No. 41, Secret, for the Period
\5th to 21st October, 1945.— {Communicated in Tehran despatch No. 370 of
2‘&rd October; Received in Foreign Office 2nd November.)
Persian A ffairs.
The Majlis.
1. Very little business was done during the week. At the session of the
14th October the Minister of Finance tabled five Bills, among which the most
important were requests for a credit of 50 million rials for road and railway
development in Azerbaijan, a request for credit for the purchase of American
Railway assets, and a 2/12th budget Bill for the period the 21st September-
20th November, 1945. On the 15th October a number of influential Deputies met
to discuss measures for the prevention of unconstitutional acts by Government
employees during the intervening period between the 14th and 15th Majlises
which will now occur as the result of the postponement of the new elections.
2. The letters exchanged between Mr. Bevin and M. Molotov on the subject
of the evacuation of Persia by Allied troops have been published in the Persian
press.
The Court.
3. The Court has announced that, in view of the presence of foreign troops
in Persia, the usual celebrations and receptions in connexion with the Shah’s
birthday (26th October) will not be held this year, with the exception of the official
“ salam ” (levee). The expenses incurred by these celebrations in normal times
will be devoted to poor relief during the coming winter.
Appointments.
4. — (i) Abdul Husein Salar Yahipur to be Governor of Maragheh.
(ii) Muhammad Hadi to be Governor of Zahidan.
Mehdi Farrukh (Mutasam-us-Salteneh) has not yet taken up his appointment
as Governor-General of Eastern Azerbaijan (see Intelligence Summary No. 38,
paragraph 11 (vii)), nor is it now believed that he will do so. A Moscow paper
stated that, in view of Mehdi Farrukh’s past history and present political beliefs,
his appointment by the Persian Government to this post must be regarded as an
act of deliberate provocation. This Russian opposition and the fact that Farrukh
is temperamentally unsuited for this, or, indeed, for any other post, will almost
certainly induce the Persian Government to find some more suitable man. The
name of Ali Mansur, who has had ample experience of Russian methods during
his three years’ tenure of the post of Governor-General, Khorasan, is being men
tioned as a possible candidate, as is also that of Khalil Fahimi (Fahim-ul-Mulk)
(F.O. 59; M.A. 82) who was Minister without portfolio in Bayat’s Cabinet of
April 1945.
Persian Army.
5. Four more officers from Khorasan, two from Tabriz and one from Kazvin
have been arrested in connexion with the recent mutiny.
6. The Chief of the General Staff is fully aware of the urgent necessity for
bettering the appalling financial conditions under which Persian officers serve and
has asked the Minister for War to lose no time in procuring Cabinet and Majlis
agreement to his proposals for financial relief.
7. Ibrahim Zand, the Minister of War, is reliably reported to have tendered
his resignation to His Imperial Majesty the Shah, who has not yet accepted it.
The alleged reasons are ill-health, disagreement with the Chief of the General
Staff and a premonition that the Cabinet will soon fall. He is leaving for
Palestine immediately to undergo another operation.
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