Coll 28/97(2) ‘Persia; Diaries. Tehran Intelligence summaries. No 1 to 50 of 1946.’ [‎47r] (93/292)

Russian officers in civilian clothes and Persian emigres, who had been residing
in Ashkabad or Tashkent, had arrived in Meshed during the first week of May.
Since their arrival the Tudeh party had made renewed efforts to establish contacts
with junior Persian officers.
Khuzistan.
12. On the 10th May the entire Persian staff at the oil-field of Agha Jari
went on strike. They demanded :—
{a) 100 per cent, increase in wages.
(b) Double pay for overtime.
(c) One month’s holiday per annum on full pay.
(d) A holiday on Friday with pay.
The Anglo-Iranian Oil Company rejected these demands, whereupon the Tudeh
leaders threatened to intern all British personnel and to take control of all
essential services. The company’s officials asked for military protection, which
was despatched with commendable promptitude from Behbehan and Ahwaz by
the orders of Colonel Afshar Oglu, the Persian army Divisional Commander at
Ahwaz. So far no acts of violence to personnel or property have occurred. The
strike continues. Lurid accounts of the strike have appeared in the Tudeh press
in Tehran in which the company is stated to have deprived the poor defenceless
strikers of bread and water and to have turned out pregnant women into the
desert to die of starvation, thirst and exposure.
Persian Army.
13. It will be recalled that thirty-six officers of the Persian army who
were suspected of complicity in the mutiny of last year were sent by General Arfa,
the then Chief of the General Staff, to reside in Kerman under surveillance.
(Paragraph 22 of Intelligence Summary Ao. 36 of 1945 refers.) Under Tudeh
pressure the Cabinet recently ordered the Minister for War to release them and
permit them to come to Tehran. On arrival they all received their arrears of
pay and an out-station allowance. During the past week nineteen of the thirty-six
deserted and have joined the Azerbaijan army.
14. A Persian army battalion has arrived in Pahlevi from Qazvin.
According to the press it was warmly received. Another battalion has been sent
to Gurgan.
Persian 'Navy.
15. • Three out of the four small gunboats (the fourth was cannibalised to
provide spares for the other three) have been handed back to the Persian navv
at Khorramshahr. They were escorted by H.M.I.S. Sonapati, who took back
the Indian crews.
16. The Persian navy’s floating dock is now at Aden, where it must remain
till the monsoon is over. At the request of the Persian Government a telegram
was sent to cancel its departure from Alexandria, but the telegram arrived too
late. The Persian Government realise that its capacity (of about 6,000 tons) is
far in excess of their requirements and wish to exchange it for a smaller one
or, alternatively, to sell it.
Appointments.
17 (i) Dr. Seyyid Ali Shaigan, formerly a professor at Tehran University,
to be Under-Secretary in the Ministry of Education.
(ii) Nadir Arasteh (F.O. 24; M.A. 32) to be Governor-General of Isfahan
vice Varasteh resigned. The appointment to Isfahan of this degenerate and
weak Qajar Prince with strong pro-Russian feelings will be a great encourage
ment to the Tudeh faction there.
Chinese Interests.
18 His Excellency Tieh Tseng-li, the Chinese Ambassador to Persia, has
returned to Tehran after an absence of nearly seven months.
Czechoslovak Interests.
19. M. Joseph Kadloc, Czechoslovak Minister since April 1943, has left
Tehran on transfer.