IOR/L/PS/10/1091

The volume contains printed communications in the form of memoranda, telegrams, and minute papers relating to the evolving political situation in Persia [Iran].

The papers notably cover the following:

• The relations between the Sheikh of Mohammerah [Shaikh Khaz‘al bin Jābir al-Ka‘bī, Shaikh of Muhammarah, modern day Khorramshahr], and the Central Government of Persia
• The strained relations between the Persian Shah of the Kajar [Qājār] Dynasty and his Minister for War and Prime Minister, Reza Khan [Rezā Khān, later Rezā Shāh Pahlavī]
• The emergence of a republican movement in Persia
• The question of the establishment of a Pahlevi [Pahlavī] Dynasty under Reza Khan
• The deportation of the anti-British Iraqi Mujtahid Mehdi-el-Khalisi [Shaikh Mahdī al-Khālisī, also spelled Mahdi Khalesi in the volume]
• The political situation in Arabistan [Khuzestan]
• The activities of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company
• The relations between the USA and Persia, including reports of the activities of American advisors in Persia
• The murder of the United States Consul at Tehran, Major Robert Whitney Imbrie.

• Correspondence with the Government of Iraq regarding the case of the Persian Shia Ulema [Shi‘a ‘Ulama’]
• Arms imports into Persia
• The reaction of foreign powers to the political events in Persia
• A Bill for compulsory military service in Persia
• An annual report on the Persian Army for the year 1923, prepared by the British Military Attaché
• A pamphlet prepared by the Central Committee of the Persian Communist Party, including details of the organisation and the constitution of the party, (ff 275-277)
• Third quarterly report of the American Administrator-General of the Finances of Persia, Arthur Chester Millspaugh, covering the following: ‘THINGS DONE IN THE FINANCES SINCE THE AMERICANS CAME TO PERSIA’, ‘GENERAL ORGANISATION’, ‘CUSTOMS’, ‘DIRECT TAXES’, ‘INDIRECT TAXES’, and ‘MISCELLANEOUS’, (ff 261-273)
• British-Russian relations
• British-Afghan relations
• Persian-Russian relations
• Repair and reconstruction of the Shiraz-Bushire [Bushehr] Road
• Outbreaks of anti-Bahai [Baha’i] demonstrations in Tehran
• The relations of the Sheikh of Mohammerah with the British Government
• Military actions involving the Bakhtiari [Bakhtiyārī] tribes, the Sheikh of Mohammerah and Reza Khan
• Draft budgets for the years 1924 and 1925, issued by the Persian Ministry of Finance
• Proposal for a Persian Railway Act
• The establishment of the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic in 1925
• The disarmament of tribes in Persia
• Report prepared by HM’s Vice-Consul Hamadan, related to the roads connecting Hamadan, Khurremabad [Khorramabad], Daulatabad [Dowlatabad], Burujird [Borujerd], and Nehavand [Nahavand]. The report also contains an outline of the general situation in Luristan (ff 17-22)
• A dispatch by HM’s Consul at Tabriz regarding rumours of Turkish aggression in Western Azerbaijan.

The volume contains telegrams from British consulates in various regions including Tehran, Tabriz, Meshhed (Mashhad, also spelled as Meshed), Kerman, Ahwaz, Kabul, Hamadan, and Sistan. The majority of the telegrams are sent by the British Minister in Tehran, Sir Percy Loraine, and the Chargé d’Affaires, Esmond Ovey, to the Government of India, Foreign and Political Department.

The volume also contains a number of extracts from newspaper articles, including those from Azad, Mahshar, and Izvestiya.

The main correspondents in the volume are the British Legation in Tehran; the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs; the Under-Secretary of State for India; the Foreign Office, London; the War Office; the Persian Minister for War and Prime Minister; the Anglo-Persian Oil Company; and the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf.