IOR/L/PS/10/1106/1

The item comprises correspondence, memoranda and minutes relating to political affairs in Persia [Iran]. The correspondence consists largely of telegrams and letters sent by the British Minister in Tehran, Sir Percy Lyham Loraine (from November 1926, Sir Robert Henry Clive), or the Chargé d'Affaires, Harold George Nicolson, to the Foreign Office. Copies of these were then forwarded to the India Office.

Much of the correspondence consists of reports and regular updates on political changes and developments in Persia. Several matters are covered, including:

• Restructuring and changes in personnel within the cabinet, government, and state administration, including frequent ministerial resignations, sackings and appointments
• Proceedings of the sixth and seventh sessions of the Majlis [legislative assembly], including elections and opening and closing ceremonies
• Anglo-Persian relations, often based on reports from consular agents or conversations between the British Minister and the Shah and his ministers
• Amendments to the constitutional law to reflect the abolishment of the Kajar [Qājār] dynasty
• The local reception given to the new regime under Reza Shah [Reżā Shāh Pahlavī] from the provinces and a nationwide re-evaluation of the Kajar legacy
• Relations between Persia and the Soviet Union, including the latter's response to the new regime
• The execution of Colonel Pouladin [Maḥmūd Khān Pūlādīn] in February 1928 in connection to a suspected plot against the Shah's life
• The question of the Persian Government's recognition of the Kingdom of Iraq
• The rejection by the Persian Government of the validity of an agreement with the Anglo-Persian Oil Company regarding the development of the Naft Khaneh [Naft Khana] oilfield
• The formation and swift dissolution of the fascist and anti-clerical Iran-i-Noh Party [Hezb-e Irān-e Now, 'New Iran Party']
• Opposition in Isfahan, Shiraz and Tabriz to the Conscription Law
• The prohibition on foreign schools teaching other religions to Muslims and the obligation to teach the Shariat [Sharī‘ah], including negotiations between the government and some mission schools
• Republican propaganda against the Shah
• The arrest, trial and conviction of Prince Firuz [Prince Fīrūz, Nuṣrat al-Dawlah III] on charges of corruption
• Persian attempts to set up a national sugar industry.

Notable within the file are the following:

• A translation of a pamphlet in circulation in Meshed [Mashhad] issued by the Society for the Protection of National Rights in Khorasan and expressing anti-British sentiment (f 346)
• A memorandum by Harold Nicolson on Britain's position in Persia in light of its imperial strategic aims, dated 30 September 1926 (ff 273-275)
• A report on the system of electoral representation in Persia, by Alan Trott, Assistant Oriental Secretary, Tehran (ff 46-48).

Further correspondence, usually included as enclosures, comes from various British political and military officers stationed in Persia and the surrounding region, and a few Persian officials.