"ملخص تاريخي للأحداث في أراضي الإمبراطورية العثمانية، فارس وشبه الجزيرة العربية التي تؤثر على الموقف البريطاني في الخليج الفارسي، ١٩٠٧-١٩٢٨" [ظ‎‎٥‎٢] (١٨٨/١١١)

102
was beyond doubt that the^ Sheikh of the Jowasimi of Oman owned the-
island, and, as in dealing with the question we had to reckon with patent
iacts, it seemed waste of time for us to discuss the question now."
. February 1913 the Persian Foreign Office raised the question
with the Minister at Teheran, urging that the ownership of the island was
§§ Tel. from Pol. 9 0r !^ estec ^ ^ )ers ^ a - I J ercy Cox, on reference being made to him,
Hes. ti. Min., Feb. 23 mtimated§§ that he had recently made it clear to the Governor of the Gulf
1913, r. 1819/13. p 0 i.t s that the ownership oJ Tamb was not open to question, and added that
since the coi]espondence of 1905 the subjects of the Sheikh of Shargah
and his flag have remained established on the island " ; that if the question
was now reopened His Majesty's Government would no doubt revive the
question oi bini, but that a flat refusal to discuss it would probably
be best. ^
The matter does not appear to have been taken further bv Persia
The light was exhibited at Tamb on 15th July 1913, and His Majesty's
Government agreed that notification of its erection should be made to
foreign consular representatives in the usual manner by the Government
of India.11||
llll F.O. to 1.0.,
July 3 1913,
P. 2647/13.
VII.—Statements made by His Majesty's Government to German
Government as to ownership of Abu Musa, 1907-14.
—9. It may be lemaiked at this stage that in the lengthy negotiations which
took place with the German Government between 1907 and 1914 over the
claim of Messrs. Wonckhaus in respect of the cancellation of their red oxide
concession in Abu Musa b # y the Sheikh of Shargah, no reference was made
to the Persian Government, who were, indeed, privately reminded by the
Charge d'Affaires in 1908 of the incident of 1904, and warned against anv
Jan. 6 1908 attempt to renew the Persian claim.- His Majesty's Government con
sistently refeired, m their communications to the German Government, to
the " sovereignty " exercised in Abu Musa by the Sheikh, and a quantity of
t Cp. e .g. Memo, to • 0Ca } evid ? nce produced to show that the ownership of Abu Musa vested
German Govt, under ^ rilJlllg ollGlkll O.i tllG JoWclSlQll of Olllcill rGSldlllg a,t SllBP^clll f It
: V ? uld ^ learly haje been impossible for His Majesty's Government to' have
Dec. 61911, taken the very dennite line actually taken by them vis-d-vis Germany had
!> - 4850/1 ^ the status of the island been, in their view, a matter at all open to dispute.
* Teh. tel. 6 to f.o.
VIII.—Reassertion of Persian Claim to Tamb and Abu Musa, 1923.
30. In 1923 the Minister at Teheran reported that he had learned
conndentially that the Persian concessionnaire of the Hormuz red oxide
concession, Moin-ut-Tujjar, a person of great wealth and considerable political
influence, was urging the I ersian Government to raise the Persian claim to
io el Ap e rii27 3 m3 ^ bu Mu i a ' COuple 11 with that t0 Bahrein, and refer both to the League of
P. 1625/23. ' iNations.J
Sir P Loraine was instructed by the Foreign Office to draw the attention
ot the Prime Minister to the incident of 1904, when His Majesty's
Government had been prepared to take naval action to remove the Persian
§ f.o . tel. 88 ^ from and Abu Musa, and hint that revival of the Persian
May i 1923, c aim might lead His Majesty s Government to take the measures then
p . 1647/23. contemplated.§
31. Ihe Minister made the required communication to the Prime
Minister, making, however, no reference to Tamb in his Aide Memoire His
Lvis'S 220, highness made no reply on the matter of Abu Musa.H Ten days later a
p. 2664. ' ^ote asserting Persian rights over both Tamb and Abu Musa, "of which
notification was made to His Majesty's Legation in the year 1903-4
having been addressed to the Minister by the Persian Foreign Office
P. Loraine adopted an uncompromising attitude, and returned the Note
Mar 291923;"" ^ to ^ f rir J ie Minister with a strongly worded covering letter.lf It seemed
p. 2653. probable that the despatch of the Note was due to ignorance on the part
of the Acting Foreign Minister of the communication which had been made
to the Prime Minister, and, the position of His Majesty's Government having
been made clear, the incident went no further.