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Coll 28/67 ‘Persia. Annual Reports, 1932–’ [‎302r] (603/644)

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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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25
and asserted that Russian intimidation was an unwarranted interference m the
internal affairs of the country. • p T3 •
122. From time to time there were fulsome articles in praise of Russia,
such as the occasion of the formation of the Irano-Soviet Cultural Relations
Society, but there is little doubt that fear of Russian intentions towards Persia
increased with growing rapidity. In proportion, as the attitude towards Russia,
^ deteriorated so did the attitude towards Great Britain improve. I he oil crisis
induced certain papers to stand up to Russia. To their surprise they found they
were not visited immediately with some terrible punishment. I he result has
been that a juster balance has been observed in the allocation by the press and
public of blame among Allies for Persia’s ills.
123. There was a growing tendency from the summer onwards to accuse
the United States of having imperialist designs in Persia and the Middle East,
124. In internal affairs the press showed itself extremely sensitive to any
supposed attack on its freedom or to any attempt to establish control over it.
Any measures which were thought to be a reversion to the dictatorship and its
methods were also violently attacked. The general tone towards internal affairs
has been one of pessimism. The governing classes were persistently accused of
corruption and incapability.
125. The Millspaugh mission was virulently attacked by the Freedom Front
papers and the majority of neutral papers. Its only support came from a number
of Independence Front papers and papers supporting Seyyid Zia.
Tribal Situation.
126. The tribes have remained comparatively peaceful during 1944 having
been allowed, in a large measure, to manage their own affairs. 1 he Government,
perhaps as the result of three years of pressure by this embassy, has at least
condescended to recognise that among the people of Persia, for whose welfare
they are responsible, are tribal communities—outlandish barbarians in the opinion
of most of the Ministers—whose way of life requires special consideration. A
Tribal Commission was formed composed of two Ministers without portfolio
and two tribal Deputies, one from the Bakhtiari and one from the Kurds. This
commission in turn recommended the formation of a Tribal Affairs Department
in the Ministry of the Interior which was to have branches in all the provinces.
However, as the result of the successful conclusion of some very minor operations
for disarming some of the weaker and more accessible tribes and, as time passed
by without any serious uprising, the Persian Government’s fear of, and interest in,
the tribes declined and the commission ceased to function and finally disintegrated
with that imperceptible decay so common to Persian institutions. Seyyid Zia
also, with the object of gaining tribal support, made known his sympathy with
the neglect and oppression tribes had suffered in recent years, and his views
that they merited much greater consideration from the Government and that
they should be allowed to retain their arms to protect themselves against oppres
sion until thev were assured of just administration. This put the Tudeh party,
always in opposition to Seyyid Zia, in a difficult position. They had themselves
for political purposes been championing the cause of the tribes, but their
hostility to Seyyid Zia obliged them to cry loudly against what they alleged
was incitement of the tribes to rearm and oppose the Government. 1 he Shah, too,
was disturbed by the thought that Seyyid Zia was trying to secure the support
of the tribes with a view to using them to bring off a coup d'Etat as the Bakhtiari
had done some decades before. For a time it seemed that he was himself going
to make a bid for popularity among the tribes, but he seems to have reverted
to his father’s idea that they must be disarmed as soon and as ruthlessly as
possible and kept in a state of weakness lest they became a dangerous instrument
in the hands of foreigners or schemers against the throne. The pact of friendship
between Qavam-ul-Mulk and Nasir Qashgai, later joined by Murteza Quh Khan
Bakhtiari, has contributed to peace by removing, for a time at least some of
the causes of unrest which lay in long-standing mutual antagonisms This pac
has been represented as an alliance of the tribes of the south and Tudeh press
has been loud in proclaiming that this is a sinister move by Persian reactionaries
and their masters to form an imperialistic zone of influence in the south.
127 Affairs worthy of note in the various tribal zones may be summaiised
as follows
(a) Bakhtiari.—Some discontent is becoming evident with the rather
"bitrary government of Murteza Quli Khan, who, in spite of his protestations
[64—52] E
ar

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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–’ [‎302r] (603/644), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/3472A, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100056661170.0x000004> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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