BRITISH INTERESTS IN PERSIA

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 80, 8 June 1945, Page 5

BRITISH INTERESTS IN PERSIA

QUESTIONS IN THE COMMONS London, June 6.

Mr Richard Law, Minister 0 f Education (in place of Mr Eden, Foreign Secretary), made a statement regarding the defence of British interests in Persia.

Answering questions on the subject of the evacuation of Allied forces he said the tripartite treaty provided for their withdrawal from Persia six months after the end of the Japanese war. In view of the request of the Persian Government for the withdrawal of troops the British Government was in consultations with the United Stales and Soviet Governments, but had not yet been informed of their views. Asked whether he could give an assurance if it were the intention of the British Government in all circumstances to safeguard imperial interests in south Persia and the Persian Gulf, Mr Law said the answer was in the affirmative. LAVAL STILL IN SPAIN Another member asked why the Spanish Government had not yet handed over Laval as a war criminal? Mr Law replied that this was a matter primarily for French representations. Laval was not technically a war criminal. To be that he would have to be so nominated by the French Government. DEFENDER OF WARSAW A member asked if the Foreign Secretary’s attention had been drawn to a statement issued by the Russian Embassy which characterised General Bor, the defender of Warsaw, in the most insulting terms and whether he would protest against the circulation in Britain of attacks of this nature on the representative of another ally. Mr Law said he shared the member’s regret that statements of this sort about one ally should appear in an official publication of another. The solitary Communist member asked if it were not a fact that for years so-called official publications published in London by the Poles contained the most atrocious slanders about our Ally, the Soviet Union, and why had we not made a protest? Mr Law replied that he thought he had heard protests in the House about publications of that kind. He repeated that the Government regretted such statements about one ally appearing in the publications of another.