خارجي ٤١/٥٠٠١ "بلاد فارس - الشؤون الداخلية (إرساليات متنوعة)". [و‎‎٣‎٨] (٢٤٨/٧٥)

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the Shah by some rather arbitrary actions, lost some favour with the Soviet
authorities who considered him to blame for repressive action taken by the Military
Governor against Tudeh demonstrations and antagonised a number of the Deputies
by his successful and selfish exploitation of various sources of income, by his wide
spread intrigues and by his boundless personal ambition. He was dismissed on the
^ 21st December, but he will be heard of again. He is about the ablest and most
energetic officer in the Persian army, but quite unprincipled. There is reason to
believe that the Soviet authorities are annoyed at his dismissal, the indications
of their displeasure having been intended only to bring him to heel. He has been
succeeded by General Hassan Arfa, who has some ability, but is little respected
in the army and has faults of character that make his success doubtful. His
mother was Russian; he himself has a very lively fear of Soviet designs, and,
although inclined to be xenophobe, he is not, at present, unfriendly to us.
A ir Force.
55. Sarlashkar Ahmad Nakhchevan, at that time commanding the Persian
Air Force, left Tehran on the 28th October, 1944, accompanied by Colonel
Bayendor, Persian air attache in London, for a visit to England. General
Nakhchevan returned on the 12th December, 1944. greatly impressed by what he
had seen in England and by the courtesy and hospitality he had experienced.
During his absence his enemies had succeeded in getting him replaced in the
command of the air force, by Bar tip Ahmad Khosrovani, an air force officer, who
had, however, no connexion with the air force for about three years. General
Nakhchevan was offered the new post of Inspector of the Air Force, but declined
it. On the 27th December, 1944, accompanied by Colonel Siah Poosh, an English-
speaking technical officer of the Persian air force, he left for America in the
aircraft that took General Connolly of the United States Persian Gulf Command
back to the States. This visit,'according to General Nakhchevan, had been pro
visionally arranged while he was in London, as an antidote to that of Colonel
Khosrovani, brother of the General, who had been sent to attend the Chicago
Conference on civil aviation and is still in America.
Civil A ir Lines.
56. Two of the three Dominies ordered by the Ministry of Posts, Telegraphs
and Telephones were delivered in October 1944, and are now operating on the
Tehran-Bagdad route. The third force landed on its way to Tehran and was
taken back to Habbaniyah for repairs, where it still is.
57. The group who are seeking to establish a commercial air line have
formed their company and are about to approach the Majlis for the necessary
authority to operate. G. H. Ebtehaj is managing director and the board includes
some good names. They seem anxious to work closely with British Overseas
Airways Corporation, and this attitude shows signs of provoking the usual
Russian reaction. Meanwhile the Ministry of Posts, Telegraphs and Telephones
declare they will not relinquish their own services to anyone. They too are
anxious for British help, so they say.
Tribal Situation.
58. The tribal situation has on the whole remained remarkably quiet. The
operations against Hama Rashid of Baneh, which were referred to in my last
quarterly despatch, resulted in the occupation with little opposition of Baneh
and later of Sardasht and in the expulsion of Hama Rashid from Persian terri
tory. He has now been removed from the vicinity of the frontier by the Iraqi
authorities. The Persian Government have given up the plan to ask for
Hama Rashid’s extradition but are asking for the sheep and other property
which he carried off to be returned. On the other hand the Persian Government
have not yet released the Jaf chiefs who were imprisoned some months ago,
apparently in inhumane conditions, on the charge of crossing the frontier into
Persia (1) without permission and (2) carrying arms. Most of the chiefs of this
area have made their peace, for the time being, with the Persian authorities, and
if the Persians were capable of just administration and a consistent policy they
would now have the opportunity of relieving Kurdish fears and laying the
foundations of a permanent settlement. Little has been heard recently from
Persian Kurdestan of aspirations to autonomy, but Russian contacts with the
Kurds, for whatever purpose they may be, are maintained.
59. Disarmament of the Arab tribes of Khuzestan continues. After some
1,000 rifles had been collected from the Arabs of the Ahu Dasht area the Persian
troops turned their attention to the Beni Tufuf, who, with opposition from only