Ext 5001/41 'PERSIA – INTERNAL (Miscellaneous despatches).' [‎12r] (23/248)

<r
15
might some day be useful brought about a change in the attitude of the press
which from hostile became conciliatory—in some cases almost sycophantic.
85. The Foreign Ministers' conference in September had aroused high hopes
in Persia, and its failure caused profound disappointment. The Persians expected
their problems to be given high priority in the agenda, forgetting that they were
already provided for by Treaty. The not unnatural reaction has been to inter
pret the conference as a sign of dissension among the great Allies—a dissension
which the less scrupulous papers are not reluctant to foment. Disagreement
between Britain and the United States over oil and the situation in Palestine
has been hailed with satisfaction in some papers.
86. The end of the Japanese war made small impression, and the atomic
bomb also has aroused remarkably little comment; though one .paper announced
the discovery of uranium on the Caspian coast and hoped that this discovery
would not be as troublesome to Persia as that of petroleum.
87. Mr. Bevin’s statement of the 20th August on evacuation and Mr. Eden’s
reply mentioning Britain's opposition to the principle of spheres of influence
both had a particularly good effect. The advent of the Labour Government was
at first regarded with suspicion, some circles supposing that it would try to
conciliate Russia at Persia’s expense, others declaring that since British foreign
policy did not change it was a cunning ramp. General opinion has now settled
down and accepts it for what it is.
88. Alexander Clifford’s articles on Persia in the Daily Mail achieved wide
publicity, and though they received abuse from the “ Freedom Front ” it was
impossible to disprove the revelations they contained. Hitherto only Tass had
been allowed to export news from Persia, and the appearance of information from
another source, with the revelation of the working of the Soviet censorship, had
a soothing effect on public anxiety. The Times article on Persia aroused less
anger than sorrow that it should be left to the foreign press to point out the
defects of the Persian administration.
89. Near Eastern politics have received little mention. The wild Persian
claim to Bahrain crops up periodically. The Arab Federation is opposed by
the Left wing as a plan imposed by foreign imperialists in order to keep the
Arabs in a backward and primitive condition.
British, and other, Propaganda Activities.
90. Following Ministry of Information instructions, drastic steps have been
taken to reduce expenditure in the Public Relations Bureau of this embassy. The
budget estimates for the year beginning the 1st December, 1945. amount to
£49,315, compared with the sum of £122,764 for the year ending the
30th November, 1945. Furthermore, various economies already effected will
probably result in a saying of approximately £34,000 on the latter figure. The
budget may be divided into three headings, namely : —
o . . ' . £
(a) Staff salaries and allowances ... ... ... ... 41.400
(h) Operational expenditure ... ... ... ... ... 23,765
Total ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 65,165
{c) Receipts 15 850
Net proposed expenditure for 1945-46... ... ... 49,315
91. From a total of some 186 persons at the beginning of the current year,
of whom 26 were British, the staff has now been reduced to about 80 persons, of
whom only 7 are British. (Although the budget figures quoted include
expenditure by consulates in the provinces, the figures of staff employed do not
include those engaged wholly or partly for publicity purposes by consulates in
the provinces.)
92. By far the largest economy is the closing down of the Tehran Daily
News, the last number of which was due to be published on the 12th October.
It was to be replaced by a daily roneoed bulletin issued privately to subscribers'
Other economies have been effected by ceasing publication of the women’s
magazine (Alam-i-Ziana'/i, a monthly illustrated periodical); by drastically
curtailing the visual publicity section’s activities in the production of material;
i)\ gi\ing up two of the bureau s se\en touring cinema vans; by handing over the
bureau s newsreel cinema back to its Persian proprietor, who will continue
showing our films (but at his own expense and not ours); by the closing down of
tliG Allied liaison section, by reducing 1 the number of reading rooms in the