Coll 28/97 ‘Persia. Diaries. Tehran Intelligence Summaries’ [‎323r] (645/749)

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THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY’S GOYfeR
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PERSIA.
SECRET.
With the Compr^ent^
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Secretary of Statfe
F Affairs
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September 5, 1945.
Section 1.
4 1 7
Copy No. T — ^
Military Attache's Intelligence Summary No. 33, Secret, for the Period
k Z0th August to 2§th August, 1945 .^—{Communicated in Tehran despatch
No. 299; Received bth September.)
[E 6557/70/34]
Persian Affairs.
Political.
THE Majlis majority and minority have not yet come to any agreement
and the position shows little change. A special session of the Majlis to mark
the end of the war with Japan was held on the 16th August, but the minority
did not attend owing to the non-acceptance of their proposal that the Cabinet
should not be present and that only the Presidential body of the Majlis should
speak. A special session was convened at the request of the Prime Minister on
the 18th August at which he blamed the minority for holding up business and
said that, although the Government was capable of dealing w T ith current affairs
and crises itself, it considered the support of all Deputies desirable. The cause
of this particular crisis was the events in Khorasan (see paragraph 8 below)
closely following upon those in Azerbaijan. He proposed to make them a test
case to determine the fate of the Cabinet in the Majlis. A debate ensued as
the result of which all the majority Deputies affirmed their confidence in Sadr,
declared that the minority by their obstructionist tactics were responsible for
the disturbances in the various parts of the country and proposed to hold daily
sessions at which those minority Deputies who wished to might attend. The
Minister for War also made a statement on the recent mutiny in Khorasan (see
paragraph 8 below) and urged the speedy passing of the budget to provide the
necessary money for the army to carry out their task of restoring law and order
in the country.
2. The recent speeches by Mr. Bevin and Mr. Eden in the House of
Commons have had a very good effect in this country. Nearly all Persians have
been greatly heartened by the references to Persia by the reassuring statement
about the reasons for Allied troops entering the country and the equally cogent
reasons for now leaving it, and by the condemnation of the system of zones of
influence. The overwhelming majority of Persians appreciate the efforts of
His Majesty’s Government on their behalf at Potsdam; the recent publicity
given to Russian behaviour in Persia; these recent speeches in the House and
what they believe to be our attitude to the early removal of censorship.
3. Not much reliance is placed on a recent statement by a Deputy to the
effect that over seventy Deputies had signed a proposal to postpone the elections
till one month after the last of the Allied troops had left Persia.
4. The Cabinet has tightened up the military governorship of Tehran by
reimposing a curfew from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. and by the prohibition of all outdoor
political demonstrations. These measures were introduced to prevent any
repercussions in the capital of the recent events in Azerbaijan and Khorasan
and of the arrest of some officers and despatch to the south of others suspected
of either plotting with the Russians or of complicity in the Khorasan mutiny.
Economic.
5. The Council of Ministers has reconstituted the Foreign Exchange
Control Commission under the Ministry of Finance. Dr. Sajjadi has been
appointed director. A black market for dollars and pounds has already come
into existence.
Communications.
6. According to the Persian press the Persian State Railway has claimed,
and according to the British Transportation Directorate is likely to claim, from
[69—95]