Coll 28/97 ‘Persia. Diaries. Tehran Intelligence Summaries’ [‎282v] (564/749)

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Army.
5. General Razmara, the previous chief of the General Staff, is being put
on trial, on a charge of accepting a bribe from a tribal leader, much to the delight
of his successor, General Arfa, to whom he is a dangerous rival.
Internal Security. r/t
General. : <?
6 . Remarkably few incidents of tribal lawlessness have been reported in
recent weeks from the tribal areas of South and West Persia. This is probably
due to a variety of causes : improved economic conditions, less provocation by
Persian officials, in a few areas better security measures, and the conversion of
some tribal leaders to the belief that at the present time good behaviour is the
best policy for the tribes.
Isfahan.
7. A large number of arrests—some reports say as much as a hundred—have
been made in connexion with the murder of the anti-Tudeh Labour leader reported
in Summary No. 20/45, paragraph 13. No further disturbances have occurred
although the instigators of the murder are still at large.
Western Azerbaijan.
8 . The situation at Mahabad is still very obscure. Even the Persian
authorities have little information that is reliable. There is undoubtedly a
movement for Kurdish independence, known as the J.K. Society, which according
to Kurdish sources receives its inspiration from Iraq. There is little doubt, too,
that the Russians are giving some encouragement to this movement. There is
some competition for members, however, between the J.K. Society and the Tudeh
party which the Russians may find it difficult to reconcile. The Kurds are
generally hostile to the Tudeh whose principles are contrary to their religious
ideas and to their tribal system.
Russian Interests.
9. The Russian-inspired Persian press has, now that Russia is no-longer
being supplied with petrol from Abadan, begun the expected campaign against
the A.I.O.C. with the object of fostering discontent among Persian workers.
The strike at Kermanshah, reported in paragraph 14, is its first success. The
justice of the Persian claim to Bahrein and the iniquity of the continued detention
of the internees are also being pressed in some of these papers.
10 . The Soviet Government recently invited a party of Persians to Baku
to attend a celebration of the 25th anniversary of the “ independence ” of the
Soviet Azerbaijan Republic, and on their return to Tehran the House of Culture
(V.O.K.S.) held a reception to give other Persians the opportunity of being
impressed by their sycophantic descriptions of their experiences.
11 The Soviet Ambassador is pressing the Persian Government to send
a battalion of Persian troops to Mahabad. This battalion must, however, come
from Tabriz; it must not be replaced, so leaving Tabriz with no troops other
than one battalion of 400 semi-trained recruits. To the protest that it would
be unwise to despatch to Mahabad. occupied and surrounded by armed Kurds,
so small a force as 400 infantry soldiers, the ambassador replied that the Soviet
authorities would guarantee their safety. It looks as if the Russians wished to
reduce the Persian garrison in Tabriz and have a Persian battalion interned
by the Kurds at Mahabad as the small Persian garrison is practically interned
at Rezaieh. The refusal of the Russians to allow^ the Persian Government to
send an adequate force to Mahabad has been referred to in Summary No. 18/45
and previous Summaries.
American Interests.
12. The Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. Command will cease to operate the Persian Railway
at the end of June. The Persian authorities are taking over by stages and by
the end of the month they will be in full control of the railway from Tehran to
Ahwaz and Bandar Shahpur.
13. Mr. Wallace Murray has arrived in Tehran as American Ambassador.
British Interests.
14. There has been a general strike of Persian employees of the Kermanshah
Petroleum Company, instigated by agents of the Tudeh party. Some of the
strikers have already gone back to work.
Tehran, 3rd June, 1945.