IOR/L/PS/12/3473

Correspondence relating to articles published in the British newspaper press (and to a lesser extent, the British Indian press) about Persia [Iran] and the Shah of Persia, Reza Shah Pahlavi. The file includes cuttings of many of the newspaper articles referred to in the correspondence, most being published in The Times. The correspondence concerns the diplomatic implications (both feared and realised) arising from press articles that are critical of Persia, its government, or the Shah’s rule. Amongst the articles appearing in The Times that are included in the file are two written by the travel writer Robert Byron, entitled Middle Eastern Journey: The Glories of Islam (f 101) and Middle Eastern Journey: Hindu Kush by Car (f 102).

The file’s principal correspondents are: HM’s Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at Tehran, Reginald Hervey Hoare, Hughe Montgomery Knatchbull-Hugesson, Horace James Seymour; the Foreign Office.

Also included in the file are cuttings and extracts of articles from the Persian press (in French, with some accompanied by English translations), that were written in response to articles in the British press.

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.