36
The representations of Great Britain, which were contained in a letter dated 27 November 1945 from the British Ambassador in Moscow to Mr. Molotov, the Soviet Commissar for Foreign Affairs, also referred to the Tehran Declaration and stated that it seemed reasonable to the British Government that the Iranian Government should wish to maintain order in its own territory and that it seemed legitimate that it should move its forces about its own country to do so. The British Government stated that it trusted that the Soviet Government would give instructions in this sense to its forces in Iran that they should not interfere with the Iranian Government in the exercise of its sovereign right of maintaining order in its own territory.
On 29 November 1945, the Soviet Government answered the United States Government note of 24 November. The Soviet Government maintained that the events that had taken place in northern Iran were not an armed uprising and were not directed against the Iranian Government, but had been caused by reactionary elements which have opposed the extension of national rights to the population of northern Iran.
As regards the Iranian security forces, the Soviet Government stated that it was not hindering the movement of forces which were already in the districts of northern Iran, but that it had opposed the dispatch of new Iranian troops to northern districts on the grounds that this would increase the disorders and the bloodshed and would further compel the Soviet Government to bring in more Soviet troops to preserve order and to assure the security of the Soviet garrison. As the Soviet Government considered the introduction of additional Soviet forces into Iran as undesirable, it considered that the introduction of new Iranian forces into the Northern Provinces would serve no useful purpose.
It clearly appears from this note that the attitude of the Soviet Government is directly contrary to the Treaty of Alliance and to the Tehran Declaration. The Iranian Government, not the Soviet Government, is the judge of the strength and nature of the disturbances in Azerbaijan, since the Soviet Government is bound by treaty not to interfere with the internal affairs of Iran. Therefore, the Soviet Government, by its admission that it did not regard the introduction of new troops into Iran as necessary, acknowledged that it had committed a breach of the Treaty of Alliance, which provides that the stationing of Soviet troops is not a military occupation and that there should not be any interference in the internal affairs of Iran.
The Iranian Government had communicated directly with the Soviet Government on the subject of sending troops and officials to northern Iran. In a note to the Soviet Government of 17 November, the Iranian Government notified the Soviet Government that instructions had been
