IOR/L/PS/12/1223

This file contains papers relating to a constitutional crisis in Iran during 1947. The papers are mostly secret diplomatic reports on the fluid political situation in Tehran. The papers are mainly correspondence between the British ambassador to Tehran and the Foreign Office in London, but also include a few newspaper clippings of the Iranian press at the time.

The crisis in question was premeditated by the refusal of the Soviet Union to relinquish occupied Iranian territory in Azerbaijan following the Second World War. This lead to a series of domestic conflicts in Iran that involved the Tudeh party, Prime Minister Ahmad Qavam, the Shah of Persia, and the British forces that had occupied southern Iran. The papers include reports on various meetings with the Shah by the British Ambassador in Tehran, as well as more detailed reports on various political factions and parties within Iran, and their respective external allies. Several reports mention the implications for, and involvement of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company in the crisis, and the future Prime Minister, Mohammed Mossaddegh. The file also includes a summary of the Persian Government's seven year development plan.