Abstract: Secret papers and correspondence concerning the British Government’s response to the potential threat of Soviet Communist penetration in Persia [Iran] and a perceived increase in influence of the Tudeh Party within the Persian Government. The political crisis was triggered by events at the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company’s refinery at Abadan in July 1946, covered in full in Coll 28/85S (1) ‘Persia. Abadan and S. W. Persian oilfields; Protection of British interests.’ (IOR/L/PS/12/3490A).The papers include: an appreciation of the political situation in Persia, along with recommendations for British propaganda activities to counter the Soviet threat, prepared by HM Ambassador at Tehran, John Haller Le Rougetel; a response to Le Rougetel’s recommendations, prepared by the Assistant Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Robert George Howe; a further response to Le Rougetel’s recommendations from the Foreign Secretary to the Government of India, Hugh Weightman; instructions sent by Le Rougtel to British consular officials in Persia, in response to events at Abadan.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 42; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
Abstract: Correspondence relating to the difficulties encountered by British (predominantly British-Indian) subjects in Iran, in remitting money abroad after the introduction of the Iranian Government’s Foreign Exchange Control Law on 1 March 1936. The correspondence is chiefly exchanged between: officials at the British Legation in Tehran, including HM Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary Horace James Seymour, Acting Counsellor Nevile Montagu Butler, and Second Secretary P N Loxley; the India Office; and the Foreign Office. The file includes: copies of correspondence sent to the Iranian Government on the problems encountered by British subjects in remitting money abroad from Iran; discussion amongst British Government representatives on what methods could be used to facilitate the remittance of money abroad; copies of petitions and letters written by representatives of the British-Indian community in Iran.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 123; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
Abstract: Typewritten copies of fortnightly intelligence summaries, prepared by the Military Attaché at the British Embassy in Tehran. The file is a direct chronological continuation of Coll 28/97(2) ‘Persia diaries: Tehran Intelligence Summaries 1947’ (IOR/L/PS/12/3506). It covers: political affairs in Persia [Iran], including government changes, the Persian majlis, the government’s responses to foreign affairs, Persia-Soviet relations, budgets, the activities of the Ministry of Labour, the resignation of successive governments led by Ebrahim Hakimi and Hajir [Abdolhosein Hazhir]; military affairs, including the Persian navy, military conscription, and the Persian air force; internal security, including tribal affairs, and unrest in some regions of Persia, with a particular focus on Azerbaijan; economic affairs, including industry, agriculture, the activities of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, the Persian Government’s proposed seven-year plan, red oxide production at Hormuz [Jazīreh-ye Hormoz]; communications in Persia, covering roads, railways, ports, and air services; miscellaneous items, including official visits, extreme weather events, and an attempt on the life of the Shah, Muhammad Reza Pahlavi, at Tehran University in February 1949.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 127; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.
Abstract: Typewritten and printed copies of weekly intelligence summaries, submitted by the Military Attaché at the British Embassy in Tehran. The file is a direct chronological continuation of Coll 28/97(2) ‘Persia; Diaries. Tehran Intelligence summaries. No 1 to 50 of 1946.’ (IOR/L/PS/12/3505). The reports cover: activities of and appointments to the Persian [Iranian] Government and Persian majlis; the actions of the Persian Prime Minister Qawam us-Saltaneh [Qavām os-Saltaneh], who was succeeded in December 1947 by Hakim el-Molk [Ebrahim Hakimi]; the activities of the Persian army, gendarmerie and navy; the Persian court, including the movements and activities of the Shah; relations between Persia and Soviet Russia; internal security in various Persian regions (including Azerbaijan, Fars, Khuzistan, Persian Kurdistan); foreign interests in Persia, chiefly relating to Britain, the Soviet Union, and the United States of America; communications and roads; commerce; labour, specifically labour relations in Persia, and the activities of the Tudeh Party.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 181; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.
Abstract: Correspondence exchanged between the India Office (John Gilbert Laithwaite), Foreign Office (Charles William Baxter; George William Rendel), and the British Legetation at Tehran (Raymond Cecil Parr), concerning the desire to retain a British telegraphist at Tehran after the withdrawal of the Indo-European Telegraph Department from Persia [Iran], in order to maintain a high degree of accuracy in telegrams sent from Tehran and London via Bushire. An alternative option discussed in the papers is the transmission of confidential correspondence between Bushire and Tehran by air mail, using the Junkers Air Service.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 30; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.
Abstract: Fortnightly secret summaries (monthly from September 1948) compiled by the Air Attaché at the British Embassy in Tehran, Persia [Iran]. The file is a direct chronological continuation of Coll 28/97A ‘Perisa; Tehran; Air Attache’s Weekly Intelligence Summaries’ (IOR/L/PS/12/3508A). The reports cover: the Persian Air Force, including its activities, organisation, equipment, training, pilots’ licences, and the Shah’s personal interest in flying and the Persian Air Force; Persian civil aviation, including Eagle Airlines, Iranian Airways, and the Tehran Flying Club, also referred to as the Tehran Aero Club; reports on the development and status of airfields across Persia, including descriptions of meteorological and radio facilities; weather conditions; foreign military attachés; foreign airlines, including the British Overseas Airways Corporation, Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij, and Indian Overseas Airlines.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 99; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.
Abstract: Weekly secret summaries (fortnightly from January 1947) compiled by the Air Attaché at the British Embassy in Tehran. The reports cover: the Persian [Iranian] Air Force, including its activities on the ‘Azerbaijan front’ in late 1946, aircraft purchases, the training of pilots, and the Shah’s personal interest in the Air Force; Persian civil airlines, including the activities of the Persian Government’s Civil Aviation Department and its director, Ahmed Chafik Bey, and airlines including the Persian State Airline, Iranian Airways, and Eagle Airlines; foreign airlines, and their flights in and out of Persia, including the British Overseas Airways Corporation, Air France, and Russian, Swedish, Norwegian, and Czech airlines. Observations on airfields and landing strips in Persia are attached to several of the summaries as appendices. These vary in the level of detail given, but can include: location; landing area dimensions and markings; fuelling, repair and medical facilities; accommodation; transport links; and meteorological information. Also distributed throughout the file are periodic reports on the numbers of aircraft in Persia, listing owner, manufacturer, engine, and whether the aircraft is in a serviceable or repairable state.The file includes a divider, which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the front of the correspondence.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 139; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.
Abstract: The file is chiefly comprised of copies, or parts of copies, of
Bulletin, a bi-monthly report published by the Bank Melli Iran:a complete copy of
Bulletinno. 81, Vol XIII April–May 1946 (ff 92-165)a complete copy of
Bulletinno. 84, Vol XIII October–November 1946 (ff 6-65)a supplement to
BulletinNo. 82 entitled
Iran’s Development Plan(ff 76-88)front covers and contents pages to a number of other issues of
Bulletin(nos. 74, 75, 76, 77, 79, 82 and 83)The two complete copies of
Bulletininclude reports and data on: foreign trade; foreign exchange rates; prices of gold and silver; weekly rates of exchange on the London market; money situation; details of bank rates of discounts; cost of living index for Iran; indexes of wholesale prices at Tehran; commodity prices; tables of Iranian coinage; lists of companies registered in the previous year.At the rear of the file, enclosed with a letter dated 21 January 1946 from the British Ambassador at Tehran (Reader William Bullard) is an English translation of the General State Budget (Allotments), tabled by the Iranian Minister of Finance on 23 December 1945 (ff 185-187).Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 187; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
Abstract: The file contains papers relating to special measures, mainly consisting of the recruitment of extra staff, taken by British authorities in the Persian Gulf in the event of war and during the Second World War. These special measures included the appointment of a Political Officer for the Trucial Coast and an increase in the staff of the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, the expenditure involved being divisible between the Indian and Imperial Revenues.The file also includes correspondence dated from after the end of the Second World War, regarding: the request of the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf that the post of Political Officer, Trucial Coast, be raised to that of Political Agent, Trucial Coast; and the retention of the services of officers and staff currently in post.Papers in the folder labelled ‘Censorship Arrangements’ relate to: emergency legislation in the event of war giving the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf and the Political Agents at Bahrain and Muscat powers of censorship of post and telegrams, in the territories of the Shaikh of Bahrain and the Sultan of Muscat and Oman; and the employment of one additional clerk each at Kuwait, Bahrain, and Muscat, for censorship work in the event of war.The papers mostly consist of correspondence, but the file also includes India Office External Department minute papers, India Office internal notes, and the following pamphlets: ‘Statements Comparing the Expenditure incurred by the Government of India on Diplomatic and Consular Services in Iran in the year 1939-40 with that in the previous year’; and ‘Statement of expenditure incurred on the Koweit Agency during the year 1939-40’.The correspondents are as follows: the India Office; the Government of India External Affairs Department; the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf; the Foreign Office; and the Treasury.The file includes a divider, which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 153; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
Abstract: The file contains a small amount of correspondence regarding a – rebuffed – request made by the Italian Government for assistance from HM Minister at Tehran (Horace James Seymour) in securing the consent of the Iranian authorities for an air service between Rome and Tehran.The file includes a divider which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 7; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.
Abstract: The file is largely concerned with the shipment of ten P-40 Tomahawk fighter planes from the United States to Iran by the Curtiss-Wright Corporation. The papers within outline a policy debate as to whether the aircraft in question should be diverted for British use and whether a request should be made to the United States to block future exports to Iran.Also briefly covered in the file is the related subject matter of the supply of Hawker Hurricane materials to Iran, and the prevention of a shipment of Tiger Moths to Iran from Canada.The main correspondents in the file as follows: HM Ambassador to the United States (Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, Viscount Halifax), officials of the Foreign Office, officials of the India Office, and representatives of the External Affairs Department of the Government of India. The file also contains correspondence with the Air Ministry and the Dominions Office.The file includes a divider which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 57; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.
Abstract: The file contains a small amount of correspondence between ministries of the British Government as a result of a request for confirmation – from the Government of India – that Royal Air Force (RAF) planes may fly over Iran for photographic reconnaissance without prior reference to the Iranian Government. Two letters from the Government of India (folios 2-3) provide notification to the British Minister at Tehran that such flights are to be conducted.The file includes a divider which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 9; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.