IOR/L/PS/12/3547

Correspondence and other papers relating to the withdrawal of Allied (British, Soviet and United States) troops from Persia [Iran] at the end of the Second World War, according to the terms set out in the Anglo-Soviet-Iranian Treaty of Alliance (1942). The correspondence covers: the British Ambassador at Tehran, Reader William Bullard’s concerns that the Soviet Union sought ‘virtual mastery over Persia’ (f 267); the Government of India’s fears over instability and Soviet influence in Persia after the withdrawal of Allied forces; arrangements made by the Foreign Office for British and Indian journalists and newspapers to travel to Persia and report on events there, specifically, the difficulties being made for the Persian Government by a pro-Soviet parliamentary minority and pro-Soviet press, and Britain’s desire for ‘the independence and integrity of Persia’ (ff 280-287); the potential disruption of air services into and out of Persia after the withdrawal of troops; concerns over and arrangements for the maintenance of security at the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company’s facilities in southern Persia; copies of correspondence exchanged between the British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Ernest Bevin, and his Soviet counterpart, Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov; reports in March 1946 of the withdrawal of Soviet troops from parts of northern Persia, and the arrival of Soviet troops in Azerbaijan and Tabriz.

The file’s principal correspondents are: the British Ambassador at Tehran, Reader William Bullard; the Foreign Office; the India Office; the External Affairs Department of the Government of India.

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.