'Military report on Tehran and adjacent Provinces of North-West Persia (including the Caspian Littoral)' [‎266r] (536/610)

485
under arrest, and the Cossacks prevented opposition. At Meshed
in April the Governor-General Quwam-us-Sultaneh had been
arrested by Colonel Muhammad Taql Khan in command of the
local gendarmerie and deported to Tehran. At Kirmanshah
also Prince Sarim-ud-Dauleh was arrested by the gendarmerie
in April and sent to Tehran. In other provinces the Governors
had either been arrested or made terms with the new
Government.
The departure of the British from Kazvin immediately re
acted on the Tehran political situation. Saiyid Zia-ud-Dm
was unable to maintain his influence over the Cossack leader
Riza Khan, who was very jealous of foreign interference, and
of the granting of executive powers to the British ofticers with
the Cossacks as prejudicial to his own influence. Riza K an
was Cossack commander and, since the beginning^ o ay.
Mini ster of War, and his sole and complete control of all armed
forces was already the strongest factor m Persian P ollt I cs -
was master of the situation and Saiyid -ua e o S
at the end of May. He had consistently endeavoured to avoi
giving an impression of favouring the Britis , u suspici ^
his pro-British tendencies was the cause of his fal J-
position of the British officers became, increasingly difficult
owing to financial troubles, Russian intrigues and the hostility
of Riza Khan, and at the beginning of July they were disims^ .
One more failure had been added to the list of European Military
Missions to Persia (see page 237). »
With the failure of Saiyid Zia’s courageous and shortlived
attempt at reform, the corrupt reactionary sys em formed
The grandees were released from arrest and a Cabinet was formed
by Quvvam-us-Sultaneh, the ex-Governor-General of Khorasa ,
while Riza Khan remained War Minister. Persian situa-
British influence in Tehran was totally don, June :L921,
April M. Rotstein, the representative of the R«n Soviet
Government, appointed in accordance wi e . „ ,,, •, ^
with the Bolsheviks, had arrived in Teffian vw ^shed mth
a very large staff, and at once instituted ye erne news
and anti-British propaganda and subsidized ^R-British news
papers. His policy was to foment internal unres a § P’
foster anti-British feeling, and secretly support the Persian
1 He had secured control of the gendarmerie by their transfer from the
Ministry of the Interior to the Ministry of ' v ar ' . Tr , K i r , Agreement, which
a In contravention to the terms of the Anfelo-K^sian Trade A^emen^.^^
provided for the cessation of their antl ; B ” i Sf P gj ] | n 0 revolutionaries were hardly
his propaganda in Persia and suppoit of the Ui a binding the Soviet to
consistent with the clause of the liusso-Persian treaty oinuui,
non-interference in the internal concerns oi i ersia.