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Coll 28/67 ‘Persia. Annual Reports, 1932–’ [‎285r] (569/644)

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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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15
the rise of the Tudeh party and the refusal of Marshal Ahmedi to continue acting
as Military Governor of Tehran still further complicated Soheily s problems in
May. Dr. MillspauglTs regulations for the stabilisation of prices, his
Income Tax Bill and his retrenchment in Government expenditure were of course
unpalatable. The introduction of a Bill for the limitation of the number of
newspapers in Tehran and the establishment of a press censorship proved
Unpopular and resulted in the resignation in June of the Minister of Justice and
the Director of the Department of Press and Propaganda.
65. At the beginning of July Hussein Sami‘i took over the Ministry of
the Interior, and Khalil Fahimy filled the vacated post of Minister without
Portfolio. Disorder and insecurity consequent upon the disaster at Semirum in
July seemed likely to create an ugly situation throughout the country, particularly
in the tribal areas. How the Government dealt with that problem is told in the
section on the Tribal Situation. The vacant post of Minister of Justice was
given to the elderly reactionary, Muhsin Sadr, early in August. At the end of
August Siassi resigned owing to a difference of opinion with Soheily.
Hussein Sami‘i found the Ministry of the Interior too exacting for him and
resigned early in September, and was replaced by ladayyun. The latter had the
invidious and unpleasant duty of administering the elections throughout the
country, and carried out his duties with firmness and courage, though the
inevitable accusations of bribe-taking and corruption were made against him,
usually from disappointed candidates.
66. The complicated disputes between the General Staff and the Ministry
of War concerning their spheres and relative positions proved a great embarrass
ment to Soheily. Dr. Millspaugh also became restive at the procrastination of
the Majlis in connexion with the passing of the Income Tax Bill, and threatened
to resign. To make matters worse for Soheily about thirty of the Deputies, who
had found that they had no chance of re-election to the 14th Majlis, began to
intrigue against the Prime Minister in every possible way. An interpellation
concerning' the nation 5 s bread supplies was taken on the 31st October, and resulted
in a vote of confidence for Soheily. Eventually, in November, the Income Tax and
other essential measures became law.
67. Throughout the last three months of the year Soheily had to deal with
the threat to his position caused by the return to Persia, at the beginning of
October, of Seyyid Zia-ud-Din Tabatabai after 22 years’ absence in exile, latterly
in Palestine. ' The Prime Minister profited from, and probably abetted, the
campaign against the Seyyid, which was instigated by the Russians and by the
Shah and it was not owing to Seyyid Zia but to the Shah that Soheily had to
resign in the middle of December. It soon became apparent that the Shah’s chief
interest was to eliminate from the Cabinet the only two strong men therein .
Tadayyun at the Ministry of the Interior and Marshal Amir Ahmedi at the
Ministry of War. Soheily was called upon to form a new Cabinet without them,
and on the 16th December the following Cabinet was appointed
Prime Minister : Ali Soheily.
Foreign Affairs : Muhammad Saed.
Justice : Muhsin Sadr.
Finance : Amanullah Ardelan.
Interior : Abdul Hussein Hajhir.
Roads : Nasrullah Intizam.
Agriculture : Moosa Noury Esfandiary.
Education : Issa Sadiq.
Posts and Telegraphs : Hamid Sayyah.
War : Ibrahim Zand.
Public Health : Qasim Ghani.
Commerce and Industry : General Shafai.
Without Portfolio: Mustafa Adle.
Of these Zand, Shafai, Intizam and Noury Esfandiary were nominees of the
Shah, and it was generally thought that this was the Shah’s first step in the
experiment of governing the country through a subservient Cabinet, as his father
had done. Zand was the first civilian to be Minister of War for a long time, and
the general opinion was that the Shah was determined to become commandei-
in-ohief of the army in fact as well as in name and to circumvent the weak-
civilian Minister by issuing orders through his Chief of Staff, m spite of the
decree he had signed in the spring making the General Staff subordinate to the
Ministry of War.

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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–’ [‎285r] (569/644), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/3472A, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100056661168.0x0000aa> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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