"ملف II (F 94) 82/34 امتياز شركة أ.ب.و.ك" [و‎‎١‎٧‎٦] (٣٦٢/٣٠٨)

for in this way it should "be possible to avoid altogether
the difficult question of territorial waters.
Ij.« Now, in this country, minerals appear unquestiona"bly
to vest in the Grown inside the three mile limit. Outside
the three mile limit, i.e. under what His Majesty's
Government consider to be the high seas, they appear to
vest in the Grown if and when they are effectively occupied
by a mining company. It is, moreover, the generally
recognised view of international law, with regard to the
bed of the open sea and the subsoil beneath it, that the
sea-bed and the subsoil is res nullius , but that it is
capable of acquisition by effective occupation in the same
manner as any unoccupied territory above the level of the
sea. The position, therefore, as regards the sea-bed off
the Iranian coast is that up to the three mile line we
recognise the sea-bed as being Iranian. Beyond that line
the Iranian Government regard the sea-bed as Iranian up to
the six mile line, and may possibly, now or at some future
date, claim that "national interests" give them the right
of control to mineral deposits up to the twelve mile line.
In the view of His Majesty's Government, however, the
subsoil outside the three mile line is res nullius and can
be acquired only by effective occupation.
5. Our advice, therefore, to the Company is as follows:
(i) The Gompany should obviously not lay claim to
more sea-bed than they really think they want,
because of the danger of wasting their precious
100,000 square miles on territory to which they
might not subsequently be able to establish a title.
(ii) The Company should be virtually safe vis-a-vis
of Iran in including areas up to the three mile line,
and probably up to the six mile line.
(Hi)/
■BflHISMi