"الملف 26/185 V (F 96) شيخ المحمرة" [و‎‎٥‎٠] (٤٧٢/١٠٥)

tkat Much may kavc enaueted froa various antit^ritisk
elements In tiie nel^kbourkood who aay be anxious to stir
up unrest of any sort, and a *a«b«r of Arab loafers and
ne 1 er-do-wells who *igkt welco «e any chance of looting.
Certain it is that apprehension of soae sort on tke lines
indicated was generally held by the Persian officials,
bazaar shopkeepers - mainly the Jews - Miropeans 1 servants
and tne like* liut there was notiiinj tangible to go on.
Un the nomirig of 12tk i was telephoned by Mr-Faun-
-tiiorpe, becarity officer of the Anflo-lranian Oil Company
and told tiiat a usually reliable source had info me d kim
that within tiie next few nights an attack upon Abadan and
KhorraiashaiiLr was to be made by Arabs frow the Iraq side of
the bkatt>-al-^rab which would be supported by all local
Arabs within the vicinity. wir.Faunthorpe sent a wan over
to see what he could discover. Directly after Mr.Bell,
Station Superintendent, Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, iUaorram-
-shahr, also informed me tnat he had similar news and that
it was definitely k^own to nir* Wat ^kaikk Ciiassib f £ sister,
iihairiyek^ad arrived from Tekran and was buying considorable
quantities of flour, rict and i^iee and arranging some kind of
reception in a house at Kut-e-Shaikh on the opposite side of
tke river to ivhorramskakr. Jbater information from both
these sources confirmed that that nigkt or the next was the
one chosen*
I had myself interrogated certain Arabs known to me ani
received nothing but reassuring statements thougk none would
deny that eertain plens did exist, but all declared that no
sort of action would ever take place until or unless the
British authorities gave it their blessing. Tiiey were of
course told tiaat no such action would in any circumstances be
tolerated and taat if anyUiing of the sort was attempted they
would find that they would not only have to contend with the
Persians but also the British.
ike information received was ]guucm^x.Gcx passed on to the
British .Naval and Military authorities in Khorramshahr and
Abadan, and also the Governor of Kiiorramshakr. Tke latter
with the Chief of Police and A^niek appeared to have received
similar news already and had disposed tke Police and Amniek
in readiness* The Governor, incidentally, kad also re-
-ported a few days before that he did not consider the Aanieh
and Police forces in Kiiorraiashahr and Abadan strong enough.
There are no Persian military forces here. The Police BtrengW
is approximately sixty in 4horraBishahr and one hundred in
Abadan and that of the Amnieh one hundred and thirty eight
for kttorramfehahr and ^uadan*
Tke Officer Comraanding Kumaon Rifles in charge of
Military Defence in Abadan and KhorrE»shahr immediately
issued a scheme to meet trie occasion a copy of whlek is appen-
-ded, and arrangements were made by me in consultation with
the Officer Commanding and Officer Commanding ^aval base at
Khorramshahr for the stronger protection of a petrol dump and
the evacuation to the Aiaval Base K Naval launches of all
British subjects in Khorramshakr (about 60 men, women and
children) in case of absolute necessity. Tke Vice-Consul
and 1 arranged to collect these persons in oar houses when
and if any circumstances, which we judfed demanded it, should
arise/