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Coll 28/67 ‘Persia. Annual Reports, 1932–’ [‎256r] (511/644)

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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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9
announced that the bonds of alliance with (ireat Britain were solid and unbreak
able, the Shah seems to have been scared lest he should be supposed to be in the
same galley, and he took unobtrusive steps to dissociate himself from this
“ non-belligerent ” policy and to reaffirm his neutrality. The “ resignation ’ of
the Minister for Foreign Affairs, M. Muzaffar A Tam. and his transfer to the
governorship of Rezaieh, were believed to be due to his championship of the
Saadabad Pact.
19. In July the Tehran press published two articles about Fgypt, alleging
that she was being “ consumed in a war from which she drew no advantage,’ and
expressing sympathy with her in the sufferings with which she was afflicted
“ especially on the part of her Ally.” Fwerything went to show that this out
burst was due to dynastic solidarity between the Shah and King Farouk of Egypt.
It was mentioned by His Majesty’s Minister to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs
as one of several signs of ill-wili towards His Majesty’s Government which had
been noticed recently.
20. The United States Legation was of the greatest assistance to His
Majesty’s Legation throughout the year, the Charge d’Affaires, Mr. Engert, being
about a year ahead of his Government in his recognition of the fact that Britain
was the United States’ first line of defence. He seized every opportunity to assure
the Iranian Government that the United States wanted Great Britain to win.
were sure she would win, and would do all they could to ensure that she did win;
and he frequently gave His Majesty’s Legation confidential information of con
siderable value. The arrival of a minister, Mr. Dreyfus, at the end of the year
at last closed the diplomatic unpleasantness which had resulted from the arrest
of the Iranian Minister in the United States three years before for exceeding the
speed limit. Difficulties in other countries made the Iranian Government look,
towards the United States as a source of supply. A proposal made to the Charge
d’Affaires in May, that the United States should sell military aeroplanes to Iran
on credit, erect a factory An East India Company trading post. for the manufacture of aircraft for the Aero-Club, and
provide personnel to replace the British in the existing aircraft factory An East India Company trading post. , came
to nothing because it was dependent upon credits. Later, the Iranian Govern
ment asked for 30 pursuit planes and 50-60 light bombers from the United States
for cash, and they ordered 140,000 tons of rails. Two attempts by the Standard
Oil Company to secure permission to look for oil were rejected, the reason given
being that it might cause foreign complications.
21. The Japanese were mainly in evidence as buyers of large quantities of
opium, with little regard to the price. Negotiations for the supply of aircraft,
anti-aircraft guns and other war material, probably on a barter basis, came to
nothing. Until October the Japanese Minister was a man who was no friend of
the Axis nor an admirer of his country’s policy in China, and there was little
suggestion of a common anti-Ally front in his time. He was. however, one of the
forty diplomats to be withdrawn by the Japanese Government, and since then
the legation has probably walked in the light of the pact.
22. The Iranian Government have continued to afford full recognition to the
representatives of the occupied countries except on one occasion, when it required
considerable pressure from other missions to secure for the Polish Minister the
usual invitation to the dinner on the Shah’s birthday. Czechoslovakia continued
to be unrepresented, but the subjects of that State had no trouble with the authori
ties, who in fact rather favour them as capable men with no political axe to grind
in this country.
23. The Roumanian Legation was suppressed soon after the accession ot
General Antonescu to power. This was reasonable, for, except for a few
Roumanians working on the railway and some cabaret artistes, Roumania had no
interests in this country whatsoever.
24. Public opinion, as opposed to the official attitude, has been on the whole
strongly pro-German, and when Holland and Belgium were attacked one saw
the strange spectacle of a people who live under the fear of invasion by a
Great Power applauding the unprovoked overthrow of another small country by
Germany. This is partly due to German propaganda, but it is attributed by
experts mainly to the vicarious feeling of triumph which the Iranians, who are, on
the whole, a cowardly race, experience at the sight of successful power in any
form. That this interpretation has some truth in it is supported by the fact
that opinion became less pro-German when Great Britain continued to hold out
and the Italians were defeated by the British and even by the Greeks.
[17—65] c

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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–’ [‎256r] (511/644), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/3472A, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100056661168.0x000070> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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