AGENTS IN IRAN.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 61, Issue 247, 31 July 1941, Page 5

AGENTS IN IRAN.

GROWING NUMBER OF GERMANS. REPRESENTATIONS BY BRITAIN. LONDON, .July 30. It is officially announced in London that the British Government has drawn the attenion of the Iranian Government to the growing number of Germans in that country. The diplomatic correspondent of “The Times” says that as a result of the British representations the Iranian Government has undertaken to examine the question of the large number of Germans in Iran and the danger of German action against British and Allied interests, thus compromising ’ Iranian neutrality. Many, if not the majority, of. these Germans have come to Iran in recent years in order to assemble and install German industrial machinery, of which the Iranians are large purchasers. Other Germans are engaged in training Iranians to use the machinery. The maximum estimate of the number of Germans, which is deemed excessive, is 5000. Other estimates are 2000 and 2500. . , The number of Germans in Afghanistan is much smaller, but here also there has been a marked increase in the nuhiber of “technicians.” The situation in Afghanistan, between the Indian Empire and Russia, might well encourage Germany to send agents and propagandists, hoping to stir up trouble on one or other flank. The British Minister in Afghanistan has drawn the attention of the Afghan Government to the dangerous possibilities of an influx of “technicians and specialists.”