مجموعة ٣٠/ ١٨٦ "النفط: المياه الإقليمية الكويتية. السلطة القضائية على مناطق باطن الأرض تحت مياه البحر. النفط البحري في الخليج الفارسي." [و‎‎٢‎٢‎١] (٧٣٧/٤٤٢)

INDIA Oi^PICE,
‘WHITEHALL,
S*17 # 1,
Ext. 4757/46.
( k)ecuL fact,
n+u / v ? uld y?, u Please refer to your letter No. AN. 1739/307/45 of
9th July on the subject of the Continental Shelf.
2 ’ Our^ doubts as to the desirability of taking imediato action,
whether by some general declaration of H.K.G's approval of the
principle of the U.S. proclamation or by the limited action of the
issue of.an Order in^Council applying the principle to the Bahamas
'' n . dai '-aica, have arisen from a desire not so much to postpone any
action in regard to the Persian Gulf as to avoid queering our pitch
there by committing ourselves to the principles of the U.S.
proclamation before all the implications have been worked out.
The issue is a far bigger one in the Persian Gulf than in the West
Indies. It seems to us that the prospects of the riparian States
of the Gulf coming to any agreement as to the division of the sea
oed in accordance with "equitable principles" as laid down by
President Truman are very remote, and the Persian claim to Bahrein
(not to mention her more shadowy claims to the other Sheikhdoms)
will impose serious obstacles in the way of reaching agreement with
Persia oven on a dividing line down the middle of the Gulf between
Persia on the eastern or northern side and Saudi Arabia and H.H*G.
(on behalf of the Arab Sheikdoms) on the western or southern side.
Tn the absence of any agreement as to the division of the sea bed it
wall be difficult, if we commit ourselves to accepting that the
application of equitable principles shall be determined in
agreement with the State or States concerned, to take any unilateral
ac ion in the Persian Gulf by way, for example, of approving the
grant of an oil concession by one of the Arab rulers over an area
outside territorial waters which in our opinion clearly ought to
iall to him, or of taking steps by physical occupation to
strengthen the claims of one or other of the Sheikhs to islands
outside the three-mile limit whose status is at present
undetermined (please see in this connection ny letter to Farrell
of the ministry of Fuel and Power dated 25th June enclosing
memoranda on the status of certain islands in the Persian Gulf).
It would at the same time make it difficult for us to contest any
claims by the Persians for complete sovereignty over the sea bed
and islands in their half of the Gulf.
3. It appears from your letter that the Foreign Office are
inclined to discount the suggestion that H.Ii.G# would be
committing themselves to the world-wide application of President
Irumans^proclamation by the issue of an Order-in-Council
proclaiming sovereignty over the submarine shelves srenn/i -i-w>
considerable areas
The problem in the
/Gulf
B.E.F.Gage, Esq.,
Foreign Office,
S.W.1.