مجموعة ١١٧/٢٨ "بلاد فارس. كرمان، يزد - (بندر عباس): ملخصات استخباراتية." [و‎‎٢‎٠‎٢] (٥١٧/٤٠٦)

5#/«
4,
JL ■
4770
Dr.Tahir euad Saiyid Kazim - are expected to be 'rWftlfiXtted
unopposed. %e latter two are all-powerful, unscrupulous
and too deeply entrenched to be easily replaced by more
suitable and popular candidates. s ooe reports however state
that Saiyid Zia may seek election in Tehran where he has &
strong following or even Ayftelcan which is pressing for an
additional deputy on grounds of population, and where he has
an overwhelming majority of supporters#
290# It is reported that Rustom G-ir who has long rep-
-resented the Zorastrians in the ^a^lis, is reluctant to stand
again for election but that he may ao so if a suitable suoeess-
-or is not forthcoming. Shah Jehan Jehanian, a wealthy but
thoroughly unpopular Zorastrian, hopes to contest GIt's position
but he is not expected to succeed.
Soviet Activities#
291# Reliable reports which have just !um come to hand,
state that a Russian military officer arrived in Yezd from
Meshed via Tabas on the 10th May posing as an inspector of
Iran-Sov-Trans which has a branch in Yezd. ^e gave out that he
was trying to trace some missing trucks which had previously
touched at Yezd# He had lengthy and animated secret conver-
-sations with Mehrban Jawanmardi, Adil (two political suspects)
and Yobenali, a Recently arrived Russian motor mechanic who has
now settled there with his wife and two children, the same
report states that among other things the Russian military
officer, who was in possession of maps, showed an unusual in-
-terest in the Ye z d railway line - the construction of which
was abandoned temporarily in 1942 - He is reported to have left
Yezd for Kerman on the 13th but he did not actually arrive here#
29 2# Yobenali is reported to have been resident in
Isfahan for the last 10 years where he had a flourishing repair
workshop and garage. To have left a lucrative and well estab-
-lished business in Isfahan for Yezd has raised the su^icinns
of the police who have him under close observation. Re is
closely aenociated with two prominent Russian Muhajirs - Adil
and Faridoon Raimi - the latter of whom is on terms of intimacy
with every important government official and notable in Yezd#
He visits Isfahan twice a month and is reported to contact the
Russian Consul there whose interest in Yezd is undisguised.
Yobemli is^quite popular in Yezd and is regarded as a good
mechanic. e seems to have plenty of money and pays his four
assi stants handsomely.
293# Reference para 56# Abbas H s tadan, leader of the
Tudeh Party in Yezd, has suddenly returned to Yezd from Tehran
after a protracted absence (due no doubt to his experiences in
February; 1945) and started activities afresh, ^e is reported
to have set up^his headquarters at Ardikan where the signboard of
his office bearing the words "Headquarters of the local Tudeh
Party" has been repeatedly removed by opposing factions. Obser-
-vatlon shows that his methods have undergone some change,that
he does not openly associate with the factory hands but is de-
-voting all his attentions to cultivators whom he visits regu
larly in the surrounding villages, ^e recently addressed a
meeting of about 600 peasants and explained the benefits which
will accrue to them by embracing the communist creed and added
that "if it were not a good thing the British people would not
have accepted a labour government in their country." This argu-
-ment appears to have had a profound effect on his illiterate
hearers who are slowly being won over. He will probably renew
his efforts with the millhands in Yezd as his following in the
surrounding villages increases#