مجموعة ٢٨/ ١٢٩ "النفط؛ امتيازات النفط في شمال بلاد فارس؛ طلب مقدم من الحكومة السوفيتية." [و‎‎٤‎١] (٣٧٧/٨٢)

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[This telegrcm is of particulrr secrecy and should he
retained by the authorised recipient and not passed on].
CABINET DISTRIBUTION
lir. Creswell.
Noa068
17th October, 1947
FROi.i TLHRife TO FOREIGN OFFI CE
WfllBiMH
D. 4.15 p.tn. 17th October, 1947
R. 6.02 p.m. 17th October, 1947
Repeated to Washington; Moscow; British Middle East Office.
IMPORTANT
CONFIDENTIAL
My telegram No. 1039.
Soviet-Pcrsinn Oil Agreement.
Conjecture is rife about the contents of the Prime
Mini c ter l s report and the form of its presentation on October
19th. Qav£m has hitherto refused to be drawn even by enquiries
from his supporters in Majlis, and it is not yet known whether
the Chamber will meet in public session or in camera and whether
the report will be a general one or limited to the oil question.
2. Tudeh newspaper "Razm 11 points out that submission of
the report without recommendations is not in accord with
undertaking in Sadtchikov-Qavam letters, which was to submit
a draft bill; and it regards the present proposal as a
manoeuvre by Qavam to avoid a defeat in the Chamber.
3. Majlis opposition also is taking the line xhaj; a
’'report" is inadequate and that the Government should associate
itself either with acceptance or rejection of the letters.
4. United States Ambassador’s sudden departure for a
four day visit to Angora, which will coincide with Majlis
meeting on October 19th has also given rise to conjecture.
The "Journale de Tehran” contrasted this week-end trip with
the absence of His Majesty's Ambassador until November and
draws the conclusion that the United States Government arc more
closely preoccupied with the oil question than His Majesty's
Government who "are not, in fact, intervening in the question,
although reports to the effect that they ’would be in favour
in the event of pressing danger to Persia of a friendly
agreement, seems to correspond with British policy on this issue”.
5. Though there have been rumours to this effect, there
is no evidence whatever that the Soviet Embassy are prepared
to contemplate anything else than the terms of the 1946 exchange
of letters, for submission of which to the Majlis they continue
to press.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs have no knowledge of any
readiness on the Russian side to contemplate a compromise.
Foreign Office please p^.ss to Washington and Moscow as my
telegrams Nos. 94 ana 116 respectively.
[Repeated to '/ashington and Moscow],