Coll 28/97(1) ‘Persia. Diaries. Tehran Intelligence Summaries.’ [‎252v] (504/807)

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The artillery looked new. No report of their arrival in Meshed has yet been
received, but it is possible that these reinforcements may have gone direct to the
frontier garrisons in Northern Khorasan.
(v) Divisions in the provinces are being steadily equipped with clothing,
armament, munitions, &c., from the Tehran arsenals. A large consignment of
light and heavy machine guns has recently been sent to the 14th (Kerman)
Division.
(vi) A special commission is now in session at the Ministry of War for the
purpose of weeding out over-age and inefficient officers from the army.
(vii) Reference Intelligence Summary No. 9 (1939), paragraph 6 . Czech
sources report that over eight months ago the Iranian military authorities placed
an order with the German Government for the supply of seventy R.V. six-wheeled
service armoured motor vehicles built by Czecho-Moravska. The delivery of
these vehicles is considerably delayed.
4. Iranian Air Force.
(i) Four Hawker Hind aircraft were recently sent to Ahwaz to reinforce
the 4th Air Regiment. The total aircraft now in Ahwaz is twenty.
(ii) On the 11 th July an Audax aircraft from Mehrabad military aerodrome,
flying low in the foothills of the Elburz Mountains north of Tehran, crashed.
The pilot was killed and the machine completely wrecked.
(iii) A landing-ground is being prepared near Madar-i-Shah (million sheet
9, D. 3) on the Isfahan-Qum road.
At Madar-i-Shah there is a very large and old Sarai, which is now occupied
by troops. The place has recently been declared a military area.
Various other new landing-grounds in Azerbaijan and Khorasan are
reported to have been prepared for aircraft, but confirmation is still awaited.
5. British Interests.
(i) The secret police have recently redoubled their watch on His Majesty’s
Legation.
(ii) It is hoped that the controversy between the Iranian Government and
the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company will be settled in a few days by an agreement
providing for increased payments to the Iranian Government in respect of the
years 1938 to 1941.
(iii) The medium-wave broadcast in Persian from Delhi having proved
ineffective, a short-wave service giving a daily bulletin in Persian was inaugurated
on the 16th August.
6 . Ancjlo-Iranian Oil Company.
The new pipe-line from Gach Saran (Million Sheet 10 , D. 2 ) is now working.
400,000 gallons per day are being delivered from this field. This is only
one-fifth of the present pipe-line’s capacity, and all further pipe-line construction
has therefore been temporarily suspended.
7. Soviet Interests.
(i) It is reported that a branch line has been constructed between Tejend
(Million Sheet 28, B.3) on the Trans-Caspian Railway to Sarrakhs (Soviet)
(Million Sheet 28, B.4).
(ii) A certain Mme. Lilian, imprisoned six years ago on charges of espionage
on behalf of Soviet Russia, has recently been released from prison. Mme. Lilian
used to own a photographic studio in the centre of Tehran.
(iii) Reports from Moscow state that the Iranian Missions there have not
met with the reception they anticipated or desired. It is learnt that two of the
Transport Commission members were warned to proceed to Moscow as members
of a commission only a few days before the commissions actually left Iran, and
that no preliminary discussions or meetings took place in Iran.
8 . Turkish Interests.
The Turkish Ambassador finds, after nearly a year in Iran, that he can get
nothing done because of the obstructiveness of the Iranian authorities. He is
particularly annoyed by the failure of the Iranian Government to implement