PERSIA TO APPEAL TO UNITED NATIONS

Chronicle (Levin), 18 March 1946, Page 5

PERSIA TO APPEAL TO UNITED NATIONS

Premier Bisregards Russian "Advice" Received Sunday, 10.20 p.m. LONDON, March 17. Official despatches reaching Washington report that Russia "advi.sed'' Persia not to appeal to United Nations against the presence of the Red Army in Norihern Persia. In fact, the Soviet Charge d'Affaires at Teheran informed the Prime Minister, Mr. Ghavam Sultaneh, that the Soviet would regard such an appeal as "an unfriendly act", says the New York Times' Washington correspondent. However, far from having the desired effect, the j Russian demarche has ensured that the case will be brought to j the Council. Mr. Sultaneh did not hesitate to inform Bri+ain and America , about the Boviet action, but at the same time said that he must consider that Persia was occupied by sufficient troops to clestroy I the nation 's sovere;gnty overnight. Nevertheless, he told the ; British and American Ambassadors that he intended to make an appeal to the Council. Consequently, the United Statcs is not i asking that the Persian question be placed on the Seourity Council agencla untii it sees v/hether Mr. Sultaneh is able to take the matter up on his own behalf. In any case, United States officials con- j firmed that America would place the is^ue on the agenda if the j present Persian Governmeiit was unable, for reasons beyond its control, to do so.

Tliroe tiiousaud Russian troops are reported to be concentrated at Karaj eneaiiipinent, 26 miles uortli of Teheran, slates the A.ssociated Press correspond cnt, who quoted the newspaper. -Neryar iMeili for the report. The Soviet garrisons are estahiished at tiie descrt vii Jages oi Takah and .Shahindej. between liaragheli and Mianeh, where a mo.'ing f oiumn of troops was reported se .-erai days ago. The despatcli added that the Ku.ssians are rnoving bac'- to the ra 1way communication centres receatiy ovacnated south of Mianeh. The Moscow newspaper Izvestia accusi's the Persian Governnient of defi'nding the monopolistic p^ssession of ihitish oil concessions in Persia by re iusiug to grant Rnssia snnilar conecssnms in North Persia. The article ..Iieges tii.it, under the Soviet-Persian 1921 Treaty, Persia pledged not to tnuisfor to any third Power, niimng, od. railway or other concessions wlucli Rnssia gave up. Persia broke the treaty many times, including the shortii/ed )'.>2b cmoession to the Standard Oil Oonipany. Later Sontli Persian conces sions were granted to the -wngo-Persian Oil Company. The article accuses the Persian Govormnent in tlie last 20 years of trying to cau.-n conflict between Russia and Jie other great Pov/ers. The izvestia says tlif 1921 treaty was made wit.ii the idea oi establishing the •Soviet Union's secnrity, particularly 1 lice Bakn oilfields. The Standard Oii confefision. which was cancclled in 19 i'2 ns a rwsult of Russia 's protests, was ongmally intended to collide with Rus suni and American interests. Thf- article nlleges that Persia aiso broke the treaty in 1923, 1937 and 193V), eypiaming that slie had no capital, tech wque or specialists to exploit her oii resoiures Iiorself. "Tiiis is only a manoeuvre, which was r-yposed by the Soviet offer 15 months ;in0 f0r a concession in North Persia. which could have helppd, the e: pioitation of the North Per sian richos and industrial develop ment." the newspaper adds. "The Soviet proposal was greeted by mad rcsistance from the Persian ruling circles; m Sonth Persia a huge concession was granted to the Angio- Persian Oii Oompany."

The Izvestia article concerning Persian oil, it is believed, constitutes the key to Russia 's present policy, says Reuter's diplomatic correspondent., Tiie oificial British view on the question of Persian oil is that the decision whether or not to grant concessions is a mattei for the Persian Governnient alone. Sir ; Reader Buliard, the retinng British : Ambassador at Teheran, it is believed, j on his own initiative, suggestcd to thc | Persian Governraent that the use of the j country's una mcated oil resourcea j might profitably be discussed by United l N ations. STATRMENT DENIED. An official denial of the "We will fight to the last man" statement attri- i buted to the Minister of War (Generai Ahmedi) regarding the alleged Russian threat to Teheran was issned by Gen eral Ahmedi and the Under- Secret:. ry of State (Prince Pirouz) at a specia. conference witn foreign correspondents. Both claimed that Generai Ahmedi 's remarks were completely misinterpret ted by the War Department mter preter present when Generai Ahmedi originally met the correspondents' Prince Firouz handed out a statement aenymg tnat Generai Anmeui said, firstly, that the question of the new. ar . rival of Soviet troops in Persia v/ouid be taken to the United Nations; sec' ondly, that new Soviet troops were ar riving at Karaj, and that if the Soviet troops attacked Teheran, the Persian army would ttght to the last man. The movements of Russian troops lr Persia reported to London relate to thc Tabriz district, says the Press Asso ciation. Some troops have been observ ed proceeding in a north-easterly airec tion but they have not yet reached tne point where the roa.' , forks, in one direc tion to Russia and m the other direc tion to Iraq. Therefore, it is impossible at preseni to draw any conclusion on the ultunate destination of the Soviet troops. It is also impossible to draw any conclusion from the movements of Russian trooyr ,in the south-easterly direction towards Teheran, from which thfcy are a long way off. It is not known how many troops are involved in the movements. One estimate says that there are between 60,000 and 70,000.