خارجي ٤١/٥٠٠١ "بلاد فارس - الشؤون الداخلية (إرساليات متنوعة)". [و‎‎٩‎٩] (٢٤٨/١٩٧)

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THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY’S GOVERNMENT
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PERSIA.
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April 29. 1943.
CONFIDENTIAL.
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Section 1.
i? - JUN 194^
Copy No.
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(No. 139.)
Sir,
Sir R. Bullard to Mr. Eden.—{Received April 29.)
Tehran, March 6. 1943.
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THE period since my des patch No. 434 of 2 1st December last has been marked
by a serious deterioration in the food situation, which is only now beginning to / 3-3 )
be surmounted as a result of deliveries of grain under the M.E.S.C. programme ^ ^
and of the improvement in communications caused by the arrival of Lease/Lend 3. FbMrafcc r
lorries and the activities of the Allied Road Transport Board. '/
2. Prices have continued to soar, and to enable Dr. Millspaugh, the newly- t ?
arrived American Administrator-General of Persian Finances, to deal with the
increasingly dangerous situation, a Bill has been submitted to the Majlis by the u fA*
Government. It is expected, however, to meet with bitter opposition from vested ' frU
interests. The increase in economic distress, which in this country is always ^ a
ascribed to Bidtish inefficiency or machinations, has naturally had a deplorable
effect on our popularity here, and public opinion has been strongly influenced bv
the fulminations of the press at our expense. M. Soheily, who succeeded Qawam-
es-Sultaneh as Prime Minister in February last, has failed to deal firmly with
the press, preferring the policy of persuasion, which has met with little or no
success. On the other hand, there are indications that he intends to introduce a
measure of social reform and to take action, by means of the special powers
proposed for Dr. Millspaugh. to check the rise in the cost of living.
Food Situation.
3. I he cereals situation has been dominated by a chronic shortage of
supplies in I ehran itself, lasting well into March. Azerbaijan delivered scarcely
any wheat to 1 ehran. and Khorassan much less than was expected, and thus made
the Food Administration almost entirely dependent on imported supplies long
betoie the ai rival of the first wheat to be shipped from North America under the
Food Agreement, and by the time the first of this wheat reached Tehran some
5,000 tons of wheat had had to be advanced to the Persian Government from the
Persian Gulf pool. Unprecedented cold weather and more than one crash or
mishap on the railway, interrupting the movement of wheat from the South for
days at a time, together with the blocking of the roads bv snow, which interfered
with deliveries of barley from Iraq, combined to keep'Tehran on the brink of
starvation Some 1.200 tons of wheat and barley were released by the Russians
from the Gurgan area, south-east of the Caspian, but the truth of a statement
made by the Russians m London in February, to the effect that Tehran was being
provided with foodstuffs entirely from the Northern Provinces of Persia was
anything but apparent m Tehran. On the contrary, the Persians themselves
realised how dependent on imported supplies thev had become, and proceeded to
accuse the Allies in the press of starving them by delaying, or even holding hack
altogether, the promised 25.000 tons of imported wheat. These attacks we had to
( oun ei m public statements, showing that we had more than fulfilled our
obligations by supplying grain in advance of actual shipments under the Food
" g reei ^ ent ’ pointing out that the Persians, too, had obligations, namely to
assist their Government in collecting grain inside the country
4. This, for the most part, they failed to do. In the provinces our consular
liaison officers armed at last by Mr. Sheridan, after .repeated representations on
our part, with a somewhat piecemeal authority for dealing with hoarders ' for
revising, where necessary, the amount of landlords’ undertakings to deliver c^rain
to the Government and for hiring animal transport, continued to fight the unequal
battle against hoarding landlords and dishonest bakers, and each provincial area
temporary Ihorteges" 1 ^ ° W " P , ' ecarlous “istenc-e. not without occasional
i ft -1' fi 11 ® 8 ^ 011 °i the eventual requirements of imported grain for thp
deficit areas of the South, to enable them to carry on till the next harvest, was the
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