IOR/L/PS/12/3430

Correspondence and notes relating to the law of succession in Persia [Iran], and possible events in Persia, in the event of the death of the Shah, Reza Shah Pahlavi. The file includes:

• Correspondence from the British Embassy in Paris, dated 1 March 1930, informing Government of the death in France of the ex-Shah of Persia, Ahmed Kadjar [Ahmad Qajar], along with cuttings from the French newspapers Le Temps and Le Matin, reporting on ex-Shah’s death (ff 42-45).
• A report, written by Lieutenant-Colonel Percy C R Dodd, Military Attaché at the British Legation, Tehran, dated 3 December 1930, on the present relations between the Shah and his army, and its bearing on the stability of the Pahlavi regime (ff 35-38).
• A report entitled The Future of Persia, written by the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, Lieutenant-Colonel Trenchard William Craven Fowle, dated October 1931 (ff 14-30).
• The text of an interview between an American journalist called Mr James, and the Persian Prime Minister Abdolhossein Teymourtache [Teymourtash], undated. Notes from a demi-official letter enclosing the text, from Captain John Ignatius Ennis, Intelligence Officer at the Baluchistan Intelligence Bureau in Quetta, dated 12 August 1931, also give details of James’ impressions of his visit to Russia (ff 3-12).