Coll 28/67 ‘Persia. Annual Reports, 1932–’ [‎4r] (7/644)

5
[8706] b 3
is at least some expert support for the view that he achieved a notable success.
However, when the agreement in final form reached Tehran for approval and
signature, first Teymourtache boggled at it, maintaining that it was
unintelligible; then, after the news reached Tehran that the royalty had
dwindled to £307,000, from nearly £1,300,000, the company was informed that
the Persian Government wished to reopen the entire discussion on a new basis,
.^and that proposals would be submitted not by Teymourtache, but by Taqizadeh.
**M'he company acquiesced, and then many weeks passed, until, on the 16th
November, Taqizadeh informed the company’s resident director that he hoped
to hand him the Persian Government’s proposals in about ten days’ time. At
/ the moment the Shah had not returned from the south, where he had been
welcoming his fleet at Bushire. He arrived a day or two later, and attended a
meeting of the Council of Ministers on the 26th November, and there and then
the letter of cancellation was drafted. There is no reason to believe that either
Teymourtache or Taqizadeh knew of his intentions. An intensive exchange of
correspondence ensued between His Majesty’s Government and the Persian
Government, who flatly refused to withdraw the letter of cancellation as an
indispensable preliminary to direct negotiations between the company and the
Persian Government, both the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Taqizadeh, who
made no effort to convey the impression that they approved the cancellation,
making it plain that <£ the King’s decree ” could not possibly be changed. And
so His Majesty’s Government eventually referred the matter to the Council of
the League of Nations under article 15, and the Council, at the instance of the
Persian Government, deferred the consideration of the question until the
January meeting, after obtaining an assurance that the material status quo would
not be disturbed.
9. With regard to motives, it can be said, with complete confidence, that
auri sacra fames {alias, a wretched royalty) was the finger that fired the explosion
of the Shah’s act. It can be guessed, with a fair probability of being right,
that the Shah had throughout the year been making up his mind to rid himself
of that turbulent Teymourtache; hence, perhaps, his endorsement of
Taqizadeh’s opposition to Teymourtache’s settlement with the Anglo-Persian
Oil Company; and then Taqizadeh failed to get on with the job. Meanwhile,
the Shah had, in the south, discussed railway problems, which revolve round
money, and in which he takes a fanatical interest, and he returned to Tehran
resolved to get money and to tear down Teymourtache’s spider web of
negotiation and intrigue, or, a modern Alexander, to cut the Gordian knot.
10. The preceding paragraphs suggest that Teymourtache’s dismissal was
due to general causes rather than to any particular reason or any definite act.
From the moment of his fall, on the 24th December, the wildest rumours began
to circulate, ranging from his being in British or Sovietic pay, to the Shah having
sent him a message that his dismissal had been necessary for high reasons of
State, but that he must have no misgivings, as the Shah intended to consult him
as freely as in the past. Teymourtache’s political obituary notice, if his career
is really over, belongs to the annual report for the current year. All that need
be said here is that, if the Shah breaks, wfithout showing abundant cause, the
man who, for better or worse, has in all matters of civil administration and
international relations stood at his right hand for six years, the evidence that
there is no room for energy and ability in Persia so long as Reza is on the throne
will be overwhelming.
II.— Foreign Relations.
United Kingdom. < A > British Em 'P ire -
11. Anglo-Persian relations are dealt with in detail in the section on
“ General Treaty Negotiations ” and “ Special British Interests,” particularly
in the sub-section entitled “ Anglo-Persian Oil Company.”
12. Generally speaking, these relations improved steadily, being especially
cordial at the time of the visit of His Majesty’s High Commissioner in Iraq in
April, until they were suddenly strained almost to breaking point by the
cancellation of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company’s concession at the end of
November.