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Ext 5001/41 'PERSIA – INTERNAL (Miscellaneous despatches).' [‎117r] (233/248)

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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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Ia-cIccl.
(17 J
THIS DOCUMENT IsQfffi ^Rd^EJ^'TM’jHS BRITANNIC MAJESTY’S GOVERNMENT
PERSIA.
e>- t0
With the Compliments
F
August 6, 194^.
4037
•HI
CONFIDENTIAL.
[L 4619/3655/34]
Fl<
Under Se<
for Fo
St^te
Section 1.
(Received A ugust 6.) ^
Sir R. Dullard to Mr. Eden.
(No. 248.)
Sir.
IN his despatch No. 197 of the 21st June Mr. Holman gave a general revie
;;7 SEP 1942:--
Copy No. H2
Tehran, July 28. 1942. 'ytfj/
n\ ms aespatcn i\o. oi mo zisi uunc i\±i. xxuiinan gave a general review^ / fryViJi*
of the events of the past three months and of the situation in Persia. Subsequent^ ff'l
tc SVL
fayflL
a. ix,.
events, I regret to say, Shave demonstrated only too clearly that the situation here „
cannot be separated altogether from the fortunes of war. 1 he German successes
in South Russia and in Libya have inevitably affected public opinion and
encouraged a tendency to sit on the fejice, which enemy propaganda has certainly
increased.
2. Early in June it became apparent that an enemy propaganda drive was
being conducted in Persia, and reports also came in of enemy agents passing
through Turkey into Persia via Kurdistan. Our attention was drawn at the same
time to a series of accidents, some serious, some slight, which were taking place
at the ports and on the Trans-Iranian railway, some of which could only be
attributed to sabotage. On the 20th June Mr. Holman made three requests to the
Prime Minister : (a) That visas to enter and leave Persia should only be granted fV J
after reference to this legation—in practice to the .representative of Cici; (b) that
the proclamation making Axis propaganda illegal should be made more specific
by laying down the precise penalties which infraction of it would entail; and
{c) that eighteen persons suspected on good grounds of Axis activities should be
handed over to us for interrogation and, in fact, detention.
3. The Prime Minister granted the first request without demur; and
arrangements have also been made to control the issue of transit visas via Iraq.
Nevertheless, the frontiers of Persia cannot possibly be closed to all unwanted
travellers, and we must certainly expect that enemy agents will continue to travel
with relatively little hindrance from Turkey through the disturbed areas of
Kurdistan into the interior of Persia.
4. The second request also, regarding the proclamation on Axis activities
and propaganda, was granted, though there may well be loopholes in the articles
of the penal and military codes now referred to as applying to infractions of the
proclamation, by which a clever person could elude punishment. Although Axis
propaganda continues and has undoubtedly increased, the means to combat it
should now exist if only the Persian Government can be induced to take the
necessary action against any offenders caught.
5. The third request, for eighteen suspects to be handed over for interroga
tion, has, as you are aware, been met by the Prime Minister with a request that
interrogation should not take place at Ahwaz. The idea of being sent to Ahwaz
in summer is, to a Persian, peculiarly horrible, but until recently 10th Army have
felt unable to arrange for detention and interrogation elsewdiere. It is now
hoped to arrange a camp at Kermanshah for the purpose, but the Prime
Minister is most unwilling to hand over any more Persians to us, and has, in
fact, gone back on a promise he made to hand over eleven of the eighteen on the
25th July. His selection of the eleven was itself designed to obviate trouble for
himself and to create it for us; the eleven were either persons of no importance,
or else men connected with the army whose arrest would tend to arouse yet more
anti-British feeling in that on the whole distinctly pro-Axis force.
6. A demand for the handing over of Persians in Persia to the British
military authorities is a very far reaching one. But it is unfortunately all too
clear that no other solution offers the smallest security that the detained persons
will be properly isolated. Of the first six most notorious Axis sympathisers
arrested last April, several were sent to Yezd to be kept under close surveillance,
but were, in fact, left at liberty; and one, Yasiri, escaped and has been at large
near Isfahan ever since in spite of frequent representations. In deference to
our representations they were then sent to Kermanshah to be kept under joint
guard: but this was also very unsatisfactory, and subsequently all were sent to
Ahwaz for internment by the British military authorities. We shall be more
r Av< Ry iSc^r
4
[32-
*54]

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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).' [‎117r] (233/248), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/564, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100042321850.0x000022> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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