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Ext 5001/41 'PERSIA – INTERNAL (Miscellaneous despatches).' [‎43r] (85/248)

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The record is made up of 1 file (122 folios). It was created in 21 Jun 1942-15 Mar 1946. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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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

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Content

This file consists of miscellaneous dispatches relating to internal affairs in Persia [Iran] during the occupation of the country by British and Soviet troops. The file begins with references to an Anglo-Soviet-Persian Treaty of Alliance, signed in January 1942, which followed the Anglo-Soviet invasion of the country in August-September 1941.

Most of the dispatches are addressed by His Majesty's Minister (later Ambassador) at Tehran (Sir Reader William Bullard) to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Anthony Eden). The dispatches discuss political, financial and economic affairs in Persia, as well as issues regarding road and rail transport (for the transportation of foodstuffs), food supplies and press censorship,

Related matters of discussion include the following:

  • British concerns regarding the extent and effect of Axis propaganda in Persia and the Persian Government's response to it.
  • Relations between the Shah [Muhammad Reza Khan] and successive Persian prime ministers, and the power and influence of the Majlis deputies.
  • Anglo-Persian relations, and British concerns regarding Soviet policy in Persia.
  • The Persian press's response to the Allied occupation.
  • The Tehran conference in late November 1943, attended by Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin and Franklin D Roosevelt, who were also present at a dinner at the British Legation, held in celebration of Churchill's 69th birthday (also discussed is the naming of three streets in Tehran, after Churchill, Stalin, and Roosevelt respectively).
  • The tribal situation in Persia.
  • The raising of the status of the British Legation in Tehran to that of British Embassy in February 1943.
  • The United States' interests in Persia.
  • The status of Polish evacuees in Persia.
  • The work of the British Council in Persia.
  • The question of the withdrawal of Allied troops from Persia.

The file includes a divider which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence (folio 1).

Extent and format
1 file (122 folios)
Arrangement

The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the file.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 124; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio.

Written in
English in Latin script
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Ext 5001/41 'PERSIA – INTERNAL (Miscellaneous despatches).' [‎43r] (85/248), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/564, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100042321849.0x000056> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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