891.00/5–545

The Ambassador in Iran (Morris) to the Secretary of State

No. 289

Sir: I have the honor to refer to the raid by Kurdish tribesmen on Mahabad (Saujbulagh), south of Lake Rezaieh, and to the efforts of the Iranian authorities to send a military garrison to that place, which were the subject of my telegram of March 19, 194526 and other telegrams.

Information with respect to this affair, as obtained from different sources in Tehran, is even more contradictory and unsatisfactory than usual, but it seems clear that, for the moment, a stalemate has been reached. The Soviet authorities have declined to give ground, while the Iranians insist that they are still trying to carry out their original plan of sending a special force from Saqqiz (outside the Russian zone) to Mahabad.

So far as can be made out, developments since March 19 have been approximately as follows:

1.
Foreign Minister Entezam discussed the question with the Soviet Ambassador and in due course advised the Iranian Ministry of War that agreement had been reached whereby a portion of the Saqqiz column would be permitted to proceed to Mahabad, together with a force from the existing Iranian garrison at Tabriz. The force drawn from Tabriz could then be replaced there by new troops from outside the Soviet zone.
2.
The Iranian Chief of Staff, General Arfa, was skeptical about this agreement and instructed one of his officers to confirm it by inquiry of the Soviet commander at Miandoab, the Russian garrison point nearest to Mahabad. The Soviet commander denied knowledge of any agreement and said his instructions were to prevent the movement of Iranian troops of any kind to Mahabad.
3.
Arfa then referred the matter back to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where it apparently rests. I do not know whether the Foreign Office has taken any further action vis-à-vis the Russians; it has not mentioned the matter to me in the past six weeks, but the Chief of Staff says he understands negotiations are going on.
4.
At some stage in the proceedings, the Saqqiz column was withdrawn from the Soviet zone, after having reached the vicinity of Miandoab, and the Deputy Chief of Staff says it is now waiting at some point between Saqqiz and the ill-defined border of the Russian zone, which is believed to run near Bukan.

The Kurds, as well as the Russians, have expressed opposition to the despatch of Iranian troops to Mahabad, and I understand one of the Soviet arguments in this dispute is that the troops would simply provoke trouble from the Kurds. This thesis is made the more plausible by the fact that the Kurds have been tranquil for some time now, no further incidents being reported from the area in question.

It is possible that the Iranian authorities, on more mature consideration, are not overly anxious to risk a clash with the Kurds and are using the Soviet attitude as an excuse for remaining inactive. General Derakhshani, commander of Iranian forces in Tabriz, recently remarked to Major Kennedy, assistant military attaché of the Embassy, that the Kurds could, if they wished, throw out of Mahabad any Iranian army force which could be sent there. He estimated that there were some 6,000 armed Kurds in and near Mahabad.

The Deputy Chief of Staff, General Ansari, recently brought to light what may be a significant new aspect of the situation. In conversation with the Military Attaché, Colonel Baker, General Ansari remarked that the solution of the problem must be governed by the terms of “our agreement with the Soviets” whereby, he said, Iranian troops may not be sent into the Russian zone without prior Soviet permission. Although this has been Soviet policy all along, the Embassy had never before heard that there was any agreement between the Russians and Iranians on the subject. Colonel Baker was unable to learn whether a written understanding exists or whether the “agreement” mentioned is simply a working arrangement having no formal basis. If General Ansari’s statement is correct, it is obvious that the Iranian position is considerably weakened.

Respectfully yours,

Leland Morris
  1. No. 194, supra.