Coll 28/97(1) ‘Persia. Diaries. Tehran Intelligence Summaries.’ [‎353r] (705/807)

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Russian officials recently visited Saqqiz and told a gathering of Kurds that any
attempt by Persian forces to advance to Saqqiz should be resisted has convinced
the War Office that the attempt to re-establish Government authority in Saqqiz
and northwards would meet with serious opposition stiffened by the Russians.
Jt does seem unlikely that any settlement of the Kurdish question is possible while
Russians encourage Kurdish aspirations.
British Interests.
10. The Persian Government has agreed to sell nine Mohawk aircraft for
the use of the Government of India.
Russian Interests.
11. Information obtained from Persian officers who have returned from
imprisonment in Russia is generally to the effect that they were reasonably well
treated, but that n.c.os. were given more consideration, taken to films, theatres
and lectures, and shown anything that might impress them with the advantages
of Soviet rule. The n.c.os. were kept separated from the officers. The particular
officers who have been met say that they were not subjected to propaganda.
The Chief of the Persian General Staff states that a certain Persian officer
who was released some time before the others has now handed in a wireless
transmitting set which, he says, was given to him by the Russians for the purpose
of transmitting information about British troops and British activities. He had
secured his early release by promising to send such information and to apply for
appointment to a station where he could collect it. He was to be provided with
an operator by the Russians. Another set had been handed in by a n.c.o. who
had promised to serve Russian interests. He was to endeavour to return to his
unit at Birjand, from where he was to report on British activities. He had been
trained in wireless operation. There is nothing inherently improbable in these
stories, but they are also the kind of story the Persian likes to tell. The Persian
General Staff consider that a large number of these n.c.os. (there were between
2.000 and 3,000) may now be Soviet agents and that there may be many other
wireless transmitting sets.
12. Evidence continues to accumulate of the intrigues of Russian agents
or political commissars in Azerbaijan, which is now spoken of by Soviet partisans
as South Azerbaijan. The situation can now be described as almost out of hand
of the Persian Government and it is difficult to see how it is to be re-established.
The Russians will not allow adequate Persian forces, nor will they themselves
give any support to Persian officials. The attitude of Russian troops is one of
non-intervention and it is in other respects correct enough. For example, a mob
of rioters in Bihshahr, in Mazanderan, calling themselves Communists, who had
attacked the police and suffered some casualties from police retaliation, on
appealing to the Russian military commander for support, were told that it
was the duty of the police to keep order. In Khorrasan, where the political
commissar is inactive, there are as yet no reports of provocative intrigues in the
places occupied by Russian troops.
Turkish Interests.
13. The Turkish Military Attache expresses considerable anxiety about
Russian policy in Azerbaijan, especially as regards the Kurds.
French Interests.
14. The French Charge d'Affaires, M. Coiffard, seizing on an incorrect
interpretation given by tJhe Prime Minister of the purport of the second annexure
to the treaty, in which he erroneously stated that Persia would be required to
break off relations only with those countries with which Britain and Russia were
at war ? wrote a hasty and hysterical letter to the Minister for Foreign Affairs
and sent copies to the press. The Minister refused to accept the letter and the
press were instructed not to publish it. One paper did publish it. The