Coll 28/111 ‘Persia. Kermanshah – Political diaries.’ [‎106r] (212/751)

— 2 —
allort the Persians to .^o back there as before, or to help or
sympathise with the )rese it Iranian Government in its shifty
and highly suspect attitude and policy or rather lack of policy
in this area is unthinkable and at variance v-ith all we and our
allies stand lor in this war*
4. Shortly alter H.M. Consul*s return, fairly reliable
stories became current that emissaries from Tehran were among the
tribes visited urging a coal tion and persuading them to lay out
a landing ground, obviously lor the use of German aircraft. The
Political Adviser made another trip in July, ana found that the
stories were well-founded, and that the emissaries had come from
the notorious deputy Naubakht, who has done so much to bring
about the present contusion and military debacle among the
Kash^ai and Bakhtiari tribes in S. Persia, and is now presumably
collaborating under our eyes with the enemy*s known new policy
of disturbing the Kurds in Iraq and Iran. At the end of July
an unidentified plane was seen by the British military authority
flying low over the area slightly north of Kerrnanshah.
5. Further north in the Merivan area the intriguing Mahmuc
Khan Karii Senani has been using a recalcitrant chieftain named
Mhamud Dizli to ma e the roads towards the frontier impassable,
and to threaten the Persian O.C. troops at Senendej that if his
iorces are not withdrawn from the western part of Kurdistan that
town will be attac ed. This is not likely to happen at present,
but on the other hand the Iranian forces are not in any position
to go out and check or punish such insolence.
IRAMIAff ADMin'IbTRATIOfl.'
6. Five months have now gone by without a Governor-Ge^eraj
in W. Iran, and more than that siuce the Kerman shah area saw a
Persian officer higher in rank than a Colonel, except when the
American General Ki^ley came in June on a quick two—day visit.
The Ustandar-designate, Fahim ed bowleh, sticks month alter
month in Tehran, ostensibly because the government will not *ive
him an official car, but more probably because in the unstable
political conditions now prevailing he hao no desire to exile
himself to this thankless job ana remote district while a better
post may be ^oing at any moment. Mr. Mohamed Gellahi, the
narvous but comparatively resolute Acting Ustandar, tries at
intervals to wriggle out of it, but is thrust bacK by M. ooheily
with promised of a much better post if only he will hang on a
little longer, until aater the elections. Meanwhile dis
position is being made as untenable as possible by the Amir-i-Ku.
and other landlords and speculators who resent his energy, and
by corrupt leading officials such as the Chief oi Ge idarraerie
who fear his independent spirit and courage.
7, After the unlamented departure of Mr* RukhI in May,
things have gone from bad to worse in the dupply department.
A new director named itiauba sh arrived, well- nown to the
Kermanshahis for his having been impeached and imprisoned a
few ears ago for embezzlement and dishonesty -vnen here m a
similar position. This C onsyilate’s justifiable protest
against being ex -ected to cooperate closely with such an
individual at this important juncture and time of crisis in tne
wheat-collecting problem seems to have led to his speedy removal
and his replac ement by an American adviser, Mr. Berges. The
general director of supply for the district, Hakimi, of whom
so much wao ho >ed, has turned out a disappointment as feared.
He spends practically all his time either in Tehran or travellm,
to and from Tehran, and occasionally dashes into Kermanshah
for a day, seatteriiig impossible and contradictory orders right
and left, and thoroughly upsetting the Supply department. The
latter continue m their rogues* and sloths* progress, literally