German Propaganda in Iran
The coup (Feint in Iraq which necessitated a British military expedition to restore a Government friendly to the Allies was one of the conspicuous successes achieved by German propa- ganda in this war. Many of the same Nazi agents who stirred up trouble for us there have transferred their attention to Iran, and are busily sowing a fresh crop of rumours, among them the fiction that Russia and Britain are preparing to attack the country. The Nazis do not rely upon wireless messages and Press articles alone ; they flood the country with agents well acquainted with the language and habits of the people, and insinuate ideas through bazaar-gossip, loud-speakers, gramophone records, and innumerable ingenious devices, giving currency to false reports long before the real news arrives. What steps are being taken by this country to meet the Germans on their own ground, and to distribute the truth through a multitude of channels with the same speed and efficiency as the Germans distribute lies? There is a vast and scarcely explored field of activity for the Ministry of Informa- tion as soon as it will recognise that there is more waiting to be done by its agents abroad than all it has set itself to do in Bloomsbury. To make one doubting country in the Middle East confident in its friendship for Great Britain would be the equivalent of a battle won, and might save thousands of lives and scores of millions of pounds.
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