Coll 28/97(1) ‘Persia. Diaries. Tehran Intelligence Summaries.’ [‎313v] (626/807)

10. M. Amanullah Ardalan (Military Attache Personalities No. 33,
Foreign Office No. 27) has been reappointed Ustandar (Governor-General) of
Ustan IV, East Azerbaijan. M. Ardalan deserted his post on hearing of the
Soviet advance into Azerbaijan.
11. A nominal roll of the new Persian Government who were introduced to
the Majlis on the 21 st September is given as an appendix to this summary.
Persian Affairs.
Political.
12. The Government in being, when the invasion began, resigned—it was,
in fact, dismissed by the Shah—almost immediately and was replaced by a
Government under the premiership of M. Mohammed Ali Foroughi. The latter is
a man who commands almost universal respect. Some changes have since been
made. The present constitution of the Cabinet is given in Appendix A.
13. The Premier has, on the whole, handled very well an extremely difficult
situation. The highly-centralised administration, where all real authority was
retained by the Shah, was thrown out of gear, firstly, by the invasion and,
secondly, by the abdication of the Shah. There is now on the part of the Premier
and of others a genuine desire to co-operate with us.
14. The chief sentiments prevailing among the Persian people at present
may be said to be : resentment at the Allied military occupation and, in a lesser
degree, at the Shah’s policy that brought it about; relief at the departure of
Reza Shah; a deep-seated fear and distrust of the Russians; and a strong sense
of humiliation. There is at the same time among a number of Persians a realisa
tion that facts must be faced and that the way to make the best of a bad job is
to co-operate with us. If this is what we want, then humiliation should not go
further.
Internal Security.
15. The complete collapse of such prestige as the Persian army may have
had and the confusion caused in the Central Administration by the removal of
Reza Shah’s strong hand have inevitably encouraged lawlessness in the provinces.
This has been aggravated in certain areas by the number of arms sold or thrown
away by deserters from the Persian army. Deserters themselves and the large
number of unpaid labourers thrown out of work by the closing dowm of railway
and road construction in the occupied areas are a further potential source of
disorder. ...
16. In Pars and Isfahan provinces the Qashqai and Bakhtiari tribes are
restless; robberies have already occurred on the roads. The tribes are, however, as
a result of the policy of Reza Shah, without cohesion and without leaders of
influence. This, while it renders any serious tribal movement unlikely, tends to
encourage irresponsible disorder.
17. In Kurdistan, which lies between the areas occupied by British and
Russian forces, serious disorder prevails and Kurdish tribesmen are reported to
have seized the towns of Saqqiz and Baneh.
18. In Azerbaijan there is considerable unrest. The Persian administra
tion broke down completely and is slow in being re-established. The Russians do
not greatly concern themselves to prevent robbery by Persian subject of Persian
subject. Among the people, who are mostly of Armenian or Turkish race, there
is bitter resentment against the Persian Government. The secessionist movement
grows in strength and appears to be encouraged by the Russians.
Economic.
19. There is a shortage of tea, sugar and wheat throughout the country,
aggravated probably by hoarding and by the cessation, or at least serious curtail
ment, of supplies from the Russian-occupied areas. This is felt particularly in
the capital, which depends largely on the northern provinces for rice, meat and
charcoal.
Persian Army.
20. The resistance put up by the Persian army to British and Russian troops
was even less effective than was anticipated by its severest critics. This was due
in main part to its own lack of morale. But there was also an almost entire lack
of serious preparation for resistance; there were no fortifications nor even
entrenched positions worthy of the name. So much so that it appeared that there