Ext 5001/41 'PERSIA – INTERNAL (Miscellaneous despatches).' [‎79r] (157/248)

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Sir R. Bullard to Mr. Eden. — {Received^&nd'Seylrmbei'i) & ...
(No. 393.)
/ Sir, Tehran, loth September, 1943.
THE period since my despatch No. 271 of the 29th June last has culminated ’'g > e CA «j&w
* ill the"Imperial firnraii of the 9th September declaring war on Germany. Early . .
in July the Persian Government formally notified me and my Soviet and <■
y American colleagues of their desire to adhere to the declaration of the United
Nations and asked to be informed what additional obligations Persia would / httcft****
yn sfc s? thereby incur, and what advantages she would secure. An agreed reply by all
//.fjT. - three Governments was in due course returned and the declaration of war followed^ jLt
immediately. Apart from the fact that Germany’s principal European ally
had collapsed on the previous day, it came at an opportune moment, when the Alee ^^ ,,
/%+/ / “ round-up ” of German agents in Persia, to which I shall allude later in this j .
U ‘ despatch, provided the Persian Government with a ready-made justification for
their action. The declaration of war has been very well received by the Majlis
and by the press.
2. To the general surprise, perhaps to his own. M. Soheily remains the
head of the Government. No one has much confidence in him, and he has main
tained his position more by astute manoeuvring and taking advantage of the
preoccupation of the Deputies about their chances of re-election than by any
remarkable display of statecraft or good government. The Shah, though
evidently anxious to change Soheily for either Mansur, Saed or Ala—or perhaps
Hajhir—is sensitive about a series of determined attacks on him which have
been appearing in the press, and has been frightened into signing, with great
reluctance, a document establishing the responsibility of the Minister of War
and placing the General Staff under that Minister instead of in an independent
position answerable only to the Shah. Soheily can also claim credit for passing
the law establishing the powers of the American Director-General of Police,
Mr. Timmerman. The vacant post of Minister of Justice has been filled by the-
elderly Sadr, a stiff and reactionary ex-mulla. Dr. Siyasi, an enlightened
Minister of Education, resigned at the end of August, but the Ministry of the
Interior has recently been strengthened by the appointment of Tadayyun. in
succession to Hussein Samli, who fortunately only served a few weeks, having
been appointed on the 10th July.
3. The elections are supposed to have begun, the usual firman A Persian word meaning a royal order or decree issued by a sovereign, used notably in the Ottoman Empire (sometimes written ‘phirmaund’). having been
issued on the proper date, the 24th August. Up to the present only one election
result, that of Kurdan and Shahriyar, has been announced. Most of the other
constituencies seem to be inactive and it is doubtful whether many other elections
will be concluded before the end of the month of Ramazan (end of September);
in fact, a movement for postponing the elections altogether appears to be gaining
strength. The usual accusations of intervention by the Russians in their zone
are frequently heard, though concrete evidence is very scanty and the Soviet
authorities disclaim any interest in the Tudeh party. In our own area, consuls
have been encouraged to make recommendations concerning the most satisfactory
local candidate, and the Prime Minister and the Minister of the Interior have
both consulted this legation about our views on various candidates. It seems,
at any rate, clear that the Government is unhappy about the prospects of riots
and disorder during electoral contests. The Tehran elections are hanging fire
owing to a dispute oetween the electoral college and the Government concerning
the advisability of abolishing the present military governorship of Tehran.
4. Haji Agha Hussein Qummi (see paragraph 12 of my despatch under
reference) returned to Tehran from Meshed in August and awaited a reply from
the Government to his proposals for the re-establishment of religion in this
country; his principal demands are freedom for women to wear the veil,
prohibition of mixed education for young persons, the restoration of the waqf
funds to their original administrators, and political pressure on Ibn Sand with
a view to securing his consent to the repair of certain tombs in Medina. The