Papers of the War Cabinet's Eastern Committee [‎138v] (276/544)

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(b.) That the Director of Military Intelligence should investigate
the circumstances in which the War Office referred the
matter to the War Cabinet and Eastern Committee without
replying to the communication which had been addressed
to them on the subject by the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. .
4. The Committee had before them the following papers:
E.C.-1703, 1718, 1727, 1765, 1767 1774, 1847, 1898, 1904, 1910,
1936, 1942, 1946, 1947, and 1948, on the subject of our policy
in Persia.
The Chairman said that he did not ask the Committee that
afternoon to continue their discussion on the desirability or otherwise
of a Persian alliance. Sir P. Cox, on the 1st October, in his
telegram 856 (E.C.-1774) (Appendix A), had made certain
suggestions and also asked for guidance as to the line he should
take with the Persian Government when he next saw the Shah or
his Prime Minister. In a later telegram (E.C.-1946) Cox had asked
for an early reply as he was to visit the Shah at the end of the
week. He further said that there was a good deal of intrigue going
on against the Persian Cabinet which it was important to nip in the
bud. This telegram had been followed by another dated the
15th October (E.C.-1942) asking for the views of His Majesty’s
Government in regard to the following:—
(a ) Now that peace seemed to be in sight America would soon
revert to the status of a neutral power vis-a-vis Persia ;
would American officers be preferable to Swiss if Persia
would accept them, or is the entry of America into
Persian politics not desirable ?
(6.) In the event of Persia not being admitted to the Peace
Conference, as she hopes, did we wish to represent her
interests ?
The Chairman said that we had also information to the effect
that the Turks were trying to bribe Persia by offering Azerbaijan to
the Shah’s eldest son.
Lord Robert Cecil referred to a Foreign Office telegram No. 422
of the 14th August (E.C.-l 175), stating that, in view of the unsatis
factory An East India Company trading post. attitude of practically all the Swedish officers in Persia, we
could not entertain the idea of repeating the experiment of utilising
them with the South Persia Rifles ; we had, how-ever, considered
the possibility of American officers for the gendarmerie in the future,
arid we wished to know what Sir Charles Marling thought of this
proposal. To this Marling had replied in his telegram 716 (E.C.-1262)
that Vossugh maintained a very strong preference for Swedish
officers; that he rejected the idea of a Persian chief with British
staff, and that he objected to American officers both on account of Ids
experience of the Schuster Mission and Colonel Merrill, and because
America had lost much of her popularity and influence since she had
entered the war. Lord Robert said that when this question had last
come before the Committee they had agreed among other things to
oppose the suggestion of a Neutral Commission, and had decided that
owing to the possibilities of Turkey coming out of the war, no definite
action was required on our part at present.
The Chairman then rend out the decisions reached at the 33rd
Meeting of the Committee (Minute 4).
Colonel Gribbon said that, as regards Azerbaijan, the War
Office attached considerable importance to Turkish activities in that
province. In reply to a question he said that His Majesty’s Govern-
ment had already given an undertaking to Persia to clear the Turks
out of that province.
Mr. Montagu pointed out that it seemed now that the War Office
had guaranteed to clear Azerbaijan of the Turks, without asking for
anything in return, whereas he himself, when pressing for an