'File 11/44 Leading Personalities in Iraq, Iran & Saudi Arabia' [‎10r] (19/96)

65. / sfandiari, Musa Nuri {Muvafjaq us
Saltaneh
Brother of Asadullah Yamin-Esfandiari. Born in
Tehran 1894. Educated in Tehran and Europe.
Entered the service of the Ministry for Foreign
Affairs in 1916. Secretary at Rome for some time.
Chief of the Economic Section of the Ministry 1929.
Chief of the League of Nations’ section 1932.
Counsellor and Charge d’Affaires at Paris 1933.
Counsellor at Moscow in December 1933, and very
soon afterwards transferred to Angora, where he was
Charg6 d’Affaires for some time. Head of the Con
sular Department, March 1937. Director-General
of Industry and Mines, July 1937. Summarily
relieved of that appointment in September owing to
a muddle over the Chalus silk factory An East India Company trading post. that was in
reality due to his predecessor, Jehanbani. Adminis
trative Director-General of the Ministry for Foreign
Affairs. December 1937. Minister, Bagdad, August
1938. Sent on a special mission to Berlin 1939.
Left Berlin on rupture of relations in 1941, and
returned to Bagdad as Minister; recalled to Tehran,
on conclusion of five years’ foreign service, in 1943.
Though at first suspected of pro-German feelings,
owing to his visit to Berlin, he behaved correctly on
his second period of office in Bagdad. Minister of
Agriculture in Soheily’s revised Cabinet of Decem
ber 1943. Ambassador to Turkey, 1945.
4 ^^! Speaks French and Italian. Pleasant, married
very early, and has a son who is a champion at
lawn-tennis.
66. Iskandari, I raj
Born 1900. Educated in France as a lawyer. Now
practising in Tehran. In 1938 published a philo
sophical review \vhich was nothing more than dis
guised Communist propaganda, and in that year was
one of a group of young Communists imprisoned by
Reza Shah. Member of the editorial board of
Rahbar, the Tudeh Party organ, of which he owns
the licence. On Tudeh Central Committee from
August 1944 and secretary-general to the party.
Owns large properties and is generally regarded as
very wealthy. Deputy for Sari in the 14th Majlis
and Minister of Commerce and Industry under
Qavam-us-Saltaneh in August 1946—dropped in
October of the same year. Replaced large numbers
of non-Tudeh members of the Ministry with Tudeh
Sympathisers and members during his tenure of
office. Went to France, January 1947, and is
probably being encouraged to stay there for the
present.
67. rtibar, Ahmad (Vtibarud Daulah)
A rich landowner from Burujird, from where he
was elected Deputy for the thirteenth Majlis. Exer
cised considerable influence in the thirteenth Majlis
and for that reason was appointed Minister of Agri
culture by Soheily in March 1943. Minister of
Posts and Telegraphs in Sadr’s Cabinet, June 1945,
but resigned immediately. A man of no scruples
who professes to be pro-British because he does not
yet envisage the fingers of the Soviet hand of
influence reaching Burujird. Will trim his sails to
any wind, and not to be trusted.
His son, Abdul Husain (Dr.) was born about 1910
and was partly educated in Germany. Married a
German. In 1943 was head of the Technical and
Construction Department in the Ministry of Com
merce and Industry, a post in which he made large
sums of money by the gilding of the Palais de
Justice. Elected Deputy for Burujird in the four
teenth Majlis, and in April 1945 was a member of
the Persian Delegation to the San Francisco Con
ference. Head of water department of Tehran
Municipality October 1946.
Speaks excellent German, good English and
French.
68. rtimadi, Nasir Quli (Nassr-ul-Daulah)
Born about 1886. A Qajar prince, descended
from the famous vazir, Mirza Taghi Khan. Occu
pied various posts in Government service, including
Governor of the Gulf Ports in 1923. Sent on an
economic mission to Germany in connexion with the
settlement of various accounts about 1939. Also
held other diplomatic posts in Europe. Returned to
Persia 1942, and soon after appointed assistant to
the Prime Minister by Soheily, with the rank of
Under-Secretary of State. Governor-General of
Khorasan, December 1945. Recalled July 1946.
Ambitions and clever, but without much stability.
A good bridge player. Speaks French and German.
69. Jahanbani, Amir Lashkar Amanullah
Born about 1890, son of the late Amanullah Mirza,
Zia-ed-Dowleh (a descendant of Fath Ali Shah), who
committed suicide in the British consulate in Tabriz,
where he had taken refuge from the Russians in
1917.
Amanullah joined the Persian Cossack Artillery
School in 1907. In 1910 he was sent to the military
school in Moscow, where he graduated in 1913. For
the following two years he was attached to the
Imperial Guard. In 1916 he entered the Persian
Cossack Division with the rank of captain, and was
made aide-de-camp to the Russian General Staros-
selsky, then commanding officer of the Cossack
Division. He sided with Reza Khan in the coup
d’Etat in 1921, and later distinguished himself in
the operations against Simitko, beng greatly helped
therein by former Tsarist officers attached to his
staff. Was made a general, and became chief of the
General Staff in 1922. He visited France and
England in 1923. Although a Qajar prince, he
favoured the change of dynasty in 1925. Removed
from his post as Chief of Staff for taking matters too
easily, but regained the Royal favour, and was
appointed to command the Eastern Division in
August 1926. He organised and commanded the ex
pedition for the pacification of Persian Baluchistan
in the autumn of 1928, and in November 1928 he
was created General of Division (Amir Lashkar) as a
reward for his services; in December 1930 went to
France to follow a course of two years’ training at
the Staff College.
Inspector-General » of the Army in 1932.
Inspector of military schools in 1933. Employed in
Baluchistan in 1934 and 1935. In October 1935 fell
from favour as the result of remarks made by him
criticising certain arrangements for the Senior
Officers’ Staff College. His eclipse was, however,
brief, and he was appointed Director-General of
Industry in March 1936 Dismissed in July 1937.
The reasons are variously rumoured as friendliness
with foreigners, espionage by his Russian wife, or an
explosion which occurred in a powder magazine.
He is pleasant and agreeable, though inclined to
suffer from swelled head. Intelligent and fairly well
educated, he is enthusiastic about sport, which he
has done much to encourage in the Persian army;
plays polo and tennis moderately well. Fond of
European society, easy-going, and somewhat lacking
in determination. He does not fleece the populace
as do many of his colleagues. He is inclined to
imitate westerners, and is ready to accept new ideas
and machines without considering their suitability.
Is friendly to Englishmen, but finds Frenchmen
and Russians of the former regime more congenial
Reported in prison in Tehran in July 1939, and in
poor health. Liberated 1941 and made Minister of
the Interior in September. Minister of Roads and
Communications, December 1941. Minister of War,
March 1942, and employed in the autumn at court
as a kind of aide-de-camp in general to the Shah.
Useful in doing little jobs with the Soviet Embassy,
but gives the impression of being overmuch inclined
to subject the present Shah to the same sort of
fulsome flattery which turned his father’s head.