خارجي ٤١/٥٠٠١ "بلاد فارس - الشؤون الداخلية (إرساليات متنوعة)". [و‎‎٧‎٣] (٢٤٨/١٤٥)

THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC
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PERSIA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
^
LJESTY B GOYE^MENT
December 3, 1943.
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[E 7569/239/34]
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Section 2.1 ».
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Sir R. Bullard to Mr. Eden .— (Received 3r^lcumber.)
m 1944
121
Copy No.
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A. frjasa
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Sir, Tehran, ‘ISrd Novem
THE following are the developments in Persia since I wrote
No. 393 of the 15th September :—
2 . "The Soheily Cabinet has remained in office, with no changes of personnel.
I he Minister of Roads. Hajir, is still in England, whence he seems in no hurry to
return. M. Soheily has managed to survive two major crises : the first being the 4 s<rc|o ^9
interpellation of the Deputy Tehranchi. and the second, the Income Tax Bill./^wv i //-A 0 .
1 he interpellation had been in the air for some time, Tehranchi having been *, 1/ .
persuaded to postpone it more'"than once. He was supported by a number oi*'
disappointed Deputies, who knew that they would in all probability not be
re-elected to the 14th Majlis; and the partisans of Seyyid Zia tookMheTOjc*
opportunity to do a good deal of lobbying in order to overthrow Soheily on the *1,*
vote concerning the interpellation, so that Seyyid Zia might form a Cabinet before^T^r*
the Majlis came to an end. The Shah, however, sided with Soheily and against 7 .
Seyyid Zia; there seemed no suitable alternative, and Soheily triumphed when
the interpellation was finally put to the vote on the 31st October. Since then
Seyyid Zia has faded away somewhat, but the closing days of the 13th Majlis
have seen a good deal of discussion about Cabinet changes. Soheily himself i^}j^
prepared to revise the personnel of his Cabinet, bringing in new men like
Musharraf Naficy and Moosa Noury Esfandiary. The Shah, however, is thinking
of a completely new team, without Soheily; only, Ala has refused to be
“ considered ” for the premiership, Ali Mansur is in the bad books oL-tini
Russians for letting a man they disliked be elected to the Majlis and fof not
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pushing in one or two of their nominees, and the Shah has realised that
would not do. The Shah is now thinking of Hajir as a possible Prime Min ster
& Q
Hajir is able and apparently honest, but he is very young, and that means tblkt he p / Q
has as yet no following. " i G u O
3. The elections have taken their course, and results have been annoiinced
from a number of constituencies. About sixty-five Deputies had been elected bvQ^ a
the 20 th November, with some more results expected very soon, so thai t hiA ' -
necessary number of Deputies to secure the reopening of the new Majlis,
viz., sixty-nine, should have been elected by now (the 2 |rd November). There
ought, therefore, to be no need of an interval between the expiry of the present CvLp i #
Chamber on the 24th November and the opening of the new one. Nevertheless,
it is thought likely that the results of the Tehran, and possibly of the Tabriz, . ! [1 "J
elections will be awaited before the new Majlis is convened, and. as voting has not * '- ‘4
yet commenced in either of those places, it seems likely that the new Majlis will
not be summoned for some weeks. An opportunity would thus be afforded for a
Government to rule without any interference from Deputies. Hence the Shah’s
wish to form a new Cabinet under a Prime Minister of his own choosing.
4. The bogy of Russian intervention in the elections in the north has proved
to be a very small one. In only two of the constituencies have Communists, or
persons holding views similar to communism, been elected, one being Darajez on
the Russian frontier in Khorassan. where a certain Durri was elected; the other
being Pahlevi, the Caspian port, where Dr. Feridun Kishavarz was successful.
At Resht the Russians acquiesced in, or at any rate did not prevent, the election
of Abol Ghassim Amini, who when in Government service was almost certainly
guilty -of peculation on a large scale; he is member of a family of wealthy
reactionaries, and his newspaper, Umid, published severe criticisms of
Dr. Millspaugh. In Sarab, where the prince-landowner Muhammad Vali Farman-
Farmayan was thought to be in danger of defeat by a Russian nominee, the prince
was elected almost unanimously. In Kazvin the Communist candidate, Abdui
Samad Kambakhsh, was not successful, nor was a similar candidate in Talish,
near the Russian frontier at Astara. In the south some unexpected results have
f irieScs*
[48—51]
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