PERSIA’S POLICY STATED

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25290, 16 September 1947, Page 7

PERSIA’S POLICY STATED

SPEECH BY PRIME MINISTER FOREIGN INTERFERENCE TO BE RESISTED <R«. 8 p.m.) LONDON, Sept. IS. Presenting his new Cabinet to the Persian Parliament, the Prime Minister (Ghavam Sulthneh) said that the Governments foreign policy aimed at stopping foreign interference ih Persian affairs and at maintaining friendly relations With all nations, especially Britain, the United States, and Russia. The speech did not mention the oil problem. London correspondent of the fI ew <4 ?® ala P d Press Association quotes the Manchester Guardian” as saying in a leading article: “Russians revival ot her demands for an oil concession in Persia occurred Within one Week of the celebration of Indian independence. In Great Britain and America this must cause watchfulness.. But in Delhi, in the midst of its jubilations, rlt must have seemed like a ghost •rising in the midst of the feast, sifice •the integrity of Persia for more than a century has been a chief iSsUe. between the Government there and Russia. “The speed with which Russia’s new pressure follows India’s achievement of its new status and the first withdrawal of British troops from India must have seemed almost indecent* ana must have caused a shiver down m ?ny Asiatic spines. Great Britain’s withdrawal from Jpdia may alter fundamentally Persians position. Unless India itself is able to pursue the same policy as Britain in me past, a countervailing pressure to Russian pressure will have been fe* goved; India’s division into India and i-aKistan will in any case weaken the bmtress on that side. ‘Possibly this will be offset by increasing American interest in, the of the oil supplies of the Middle East, but Persia cannot safely rely for safety on this alone.”