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Coll 28/67 ‘Persia. Annual Reports, 1932–’ [‎140v] (280/644)

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The record is made up of 1 file (320 folios). It was created in 6 Dec 1933-27 Mar 1947. It was written in English and French. 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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24
144. The cause of the ultimate breakdown of the conference was not,
however, disagreement over future policy, but the refusal of the Iranian delegates
to drop the accusations of the past by furnishing a written statement that they
acknowledged the goodwill and intentions of the British Government and accepted
the assurances of the British delegation that responsible British authorities were^
not implicated in any of the incidents mentioned by the Iranian delegates. The
British delegates felt that they could not communicate in writing the above-
mentioned proposals of the Government of India unless they first obtained an
assurance from the Iranians that they withdrew their accusations against British
authorities, and the refusal of Colonel Arfa to furnish such an assurance
accordingly put an end to the conference.
145. On the return of Major Pybus to Tehran, His Majesty’s Minister
addressed a letter to the Prime Minister deploring the attitude which had been
adopted by the Iranian delegates, and stating that, while ready to continue
discussions, he must first receive a categorical assurance that all accusations and
insinuations against British authorities were definitely abandoned. The Prime
Minister’s reply was somewhat evasive in its terms, but it reiterated his former
statement that he was making no accusations, and it was accordingly decided that
conversations might be allowed to proceed.
146. The first idea was that a series of meetings might take place between
His Majesty’s Minister and Major Pybus and the Under-Secretary for Foreign
Affairs and General Jehanbani. But for various reasons, and chiefly because of
the frequent absence of the general from Tehran, no formal meetings were ever
held and all subsequent discussions were carried on with officials of the Ministry
for Foreign Affairs alone.
147. His Majesty’s Minister first communicated to M. Soheily a
memorandum explaining the position of the Government of India and indicating
the measures which they were prepared to take. It also contained their reasons
for not being able to agree to the institution of a system of frontier commissars,
which they regarded as unworkable in any case and which had, further, the great
objection that it would completely side-track British consular officers in East Iran.
148. The Iranians then made a number of suggestions, the principal one
being that arms confiscated from refugees should not be restored to them when
they recrossed the frontier. The Government of India felt unable, however, to
commit themselves further than they had already done, but agreed to a number of
minor points raised by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. On their side, the
Iranians seemed ready to abandon their proposal for frontier commissars.
149. Finally, however, the Iranians appeared to lose interest in the whole
matter, and, though His Majesty’s Minister communicated to M. Soheily in
September the draft of a note which he would be prepared to address to him
officially to confirm the proposals of the Government of India, matters had not
advanced a single stage further by the end of the year. The probability is that
the Iranian Government, seeing that they could not obtain all their desiderata,
preferred to nurse their grievances rather than acquiesce in an arrangement
which they could not regard as wholly satisfactory.
150. During the course of the year M. Motamedy made a number of oral
requests for the extradition of robbers and others who had fled across the frontier,
and for the return of arms stolen from Iranian guards. He was always informed
that requests for extradition could not be entertained, but it more than once
proved possible to trace and restore property stolen from the Iranian forces.
(c) Demarcation of the Baluchistan Frontier.
151. This question was considered afresh at the time of the Zahidan
Conference in February, but it was decided that it was not in the interests of the
Government of India that the sector from boundary pillar No. 11 to Koh-i-Malik
Siah should be demarcated. No mention of it was therefore made.
152. M. Kazemi, however, raised the matter with His Majesty’s Minister
in September, though he made only a passing allusion to it. He said that the
Iranian Government desired to see all their frontiers demarcated, and in
enumerating them mentioned Baluchistan.

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Content

Annual reports for Persia [Iran] produced by staff at the British Legation in Tehran. The reports were sent to the Foreign Office by HM’s Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary A diplomatic representative who ranks below an ambassador. The term can be shortened to 'envoy'. at Tehran (from 1943, Ambassador to Iran). The reports cover the following years: 1932 (ff 2-50); 1933 (ff 51-98); 1934 (ff 99-128); 1935 (ff 129-165); 1936 (ff 166-195); 1937 (ff 196-227); 1938 (ff 228-249); 1939 (ff 250-251); 1940 (ff 252-257); 1941 (ff 258-266); 1942 (ff 267-277); 1943 (ff 278-289); 1944 (ff 290-306); 1945 (ff 307-317); 1946 (ff 318-320).

The reports for 1932 to 1938 are comprehensive in nature (each containing their own table of contents), and cover: an introductory statement on affairs in Persia, with a focus on the Shah’s programme of modernisation across the country; an overview of foreign relations between Persia and other nations, including with the United Kingdom, British India, and Iraq; Persia’s involvement in international conventions and agreements, for example the League of Nations and the Slave Traffic Convention; British interests in or associated with Persia, including Bahrain and Bahrainis resident in Persia, the Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. at Bushire, the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, Imperial Bank of Persia, and the Imperial and International Communications Company; political affairs in Persia, including court and officials, majlis, tribes and security; economic affairs in Persia (government finances and budgets, trade, industry, agriculture, opium production); communications (aviation, railways, roads); consular matters; military matters (army, navy, air force).

Reports from 1939 to 1946 are briefer in nature, Reports from 1941 onwards focusing on the Anglo-Soviet occupation of Persia, and the role of United States advisors in the Persian Government’s administration.

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.

Extent and format
1 file (320 folios)
Arrangement

The file’s reports are arranged in chronological order from the front to the rear of the file. Each report for the years 1932-1938 begins with a table of contents referring to that report’s own printed pagination sequence.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 321; 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.

The file contains one foliation anomaly, f 308A

Pagination: Each of the reports included in the file has its own printed pagination system, commencing at 1 on the first page of the report.

Written in
English and French in Latin script
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Coll 28/67 ‘Persia. Annual Reports, 1932–’ [‎140v] (280/644), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/3472A, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100056661167.0x000051> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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