خارجي ٤١/٥٠٠١ "بلاد فارس - الشؤون الداخلية (إرساليات متنوعة)". [و‎‎٤‎٣] (٢٤٨/٨٥)

Internal Politics and Majlis.
22. The position of the Cabinet remained precarious throughout July and
August, and it was only the absence of any general agreement as to who should
succeed Sa’id that kept it in office. Several candidates were mentioned including
^Hajhir, Ardalan, Ahi, Soheily, Hussein Sami'i, and Qawam-es-Saltaneh. Our
objections to the latter had previously been explained to the Shah, the then
Prime Minister, and the Soviet Ambassador, and were made clear to an inter
mediary sent to this embassy in mid-August. It was generally considered that
Seyyid Zia had too much opposition against him for his appointment to be
possible. He himself was understood to favour the appointment of Hussein
Sami’i with a team of young men.
23. The Cabinet started the period badly. Having first of all, at the behest
of the Majlis, taken a strong line against Millspaugh, it eventually found itself
explaining to the Majlis that it had agreed to keep him for another few months
to see whether he could produce any results. The change of front by the Majlis
majority appears to have been due as much to the reflection that since the Shah
and the Russians both wanted Millspaugh removed there might be some value
in him after all, as to the fear that the American Government might cut ofl
supplies.
24. By the middle of August Majlis opinion had come round to the view
that the best temporary solution would be for Sa’id to reshuffle his Cabinet. An
interpellation which was to have taken place on the 17th August was accordingly
postponed to the 28th August to enable him to make any changes he thought fit.
In the interval Sa’id, after prolonged discussions, having obtained a promise of
support from a coalition of eighty-five Deputies of the Mihan, Ittehad-i-Milli
and Azadi fractions, resigned on the 26th August and was entrusted with the
formation of a new Cabinet.
25. The new Cabinet, chosen by Sa’id in consultation with his supporters
in the Majlis, was presented to the Shah on the 31st August. Apart from the
Prime Minister himself the only other member of the previous Cabinet to be
included was Khalil Fahimi, Minister without Portfolio. Three other members
of the new Cabinet, Baqir Kazimi, Allahyar Saleh and Muhammad Nariman,
who became Ministers of Education, Justice and Communications respectively,
had previously held Cabinet rank. Ali Asghar Zarinkafsh, Dr. Muhammad
Nakhai and Muhammad Sururi, who had been satisfactory Under-Secretaries,
were appointed Ministers of Finance, Commerce and Industry, and Interior, and
Dr. Manuchihr Iqbal became Acting Minister of Health. The Ministry of Posts
and Telegraphs was given to a comparatively unknown official named Yusuf
Mushar, and the Ministry of Agriculture was left vacant. The Prime Minister
himself took over the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. General Muhammad
Hussein Firuz, Governor-General of Fars, was offered the Ministry of War but
after a visit to Tehran he refused.
26. Opposition to the new Cabinet was immediately encountered from the
Tudeh party, who objected to the return of Sa’id, and from the Independents in
the Majlis, who resented the fact that they had not been consulted. When Sa’id
attempted on the 2nd September to introduce his Cabinet to the Majlis the
Opposition elements absented themselves from the Chamber, with the result that
the necessary quorum was lacking. Discussions lasting a fortnight followed
before the Cabinet finally obtained its vote of confidence from the Majlis on the
17th September, 73 out of the 100 members present voting in its favour.
Although Sa’id continued to enjoy the support of the coalition majority up to
the end of September, the position of his Government remained unstable owing
to the opposition of the Tudeh and the Russians. The Shah also was not
favourably disposed to it because it contained none of his nominees.
27. During the period under review the Majlis itself spent little time on
legislation, being more occupied with intrigue over the composition of Cabinets
and the credentials of Deputies. Some excitement was caused in July by the
rejection by a narrow majority of the credentials of a Tudeh-sponsored Deputy
from Tabriz, the way having been prepared by the prior rejection of those of
an independent Deputy who headed the poll. The rejection of Pishavari’s
credentials was greeted with a storm of criticism in the Tudeh press; there was
considerable agitation in Tabriz and the acting Soviet Consul-General expressed
his displeasure. The excitement was short lived, however, and by the end of
August there was general indifference in Tabriz to the fate of the Soviet-
supported Deputies. The credentials of the other Communist Deputies of