'The Persian Gulf' [‎1r] (1/4)

Political Department.
P.Z. 6647/35
SECRET.
THE PERSIAN GULF The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. .
1. Procpdure for dealing with Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. Questions. —For some time after
1922 the Colonial Office, besides administering Palestine, Transjordan Used in three contexts: the geographical region to the east of the River Jordan (literally ‘across the River Jordan’); a British protectorate (1921-46); an independent political entity (1946-49) now known as Jordan , and the
Iraq Mandate, had a general responsibility for political questions affecting Arabia,
including those arising on the side of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. . The Government of India
remained responsible for internal questions in Koweit, Bahrein, the Trucial
Sheikhdoms and Muscat, except that the Colonial Office dealt with oil questions in
the Gulf generally. When Ibn Saud became King of the Hejaz, the conduct of
relations with him passed to the Foreign Office, and when Iraq became an
independent State and the Foreign Office thus became also responsible for Anglo-
Iraqi relations, the residue of the Colonial Office main interest in Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
politics disappeared, and that Department asked to be relieved of its responsibility
in connection with the remaining Gulf States. The Cabinet then decided, on
26th July 1933, that the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. should receive departmental responsibility for
Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. affairs, i.e. general political questions (as well as internal administrative
ones) affecting Koweit, Bahrein, Qatar, the Trucial Sheikhdoms and Muscat. 0
The Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. accordingly now corresponds with the
India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. and the Government of India regarding all such questions. Several
other Departments (e.g. the Foreign Office, the Air Ministry and the Admiralty) are
also concerned in these matters, and interdepartmental co-ordination continues to
be ensured through two Sub-Committees of the Committee of Imperial Defence (one
of permanent officials and one of Ministers). This system had been established
some time previously, and has been found to work well. The differences between
departmental views are most often adjusted in the Official Committee, and the few
that cannot be thus resolved are submitted to the Ministerial Committee for
decision.
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2. British Relations with Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. States. —Muscat is an independent State
in special treaty relations with this country, but also in treaty relationship with
France and the United States of America. Koweit, Bahrein and Qatar are
independent States in exclusive treaty relation with His Majesty's Government and
virtually under British protection, though they are not " protectorates." The
Trucial Sheikhdoms (Abu Dhabi, Debai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm al Qawain and Pas
al Khaimah) are in a similar position, though we have not, generally speaking,
entered into obligations to protect them by land. The general effect of our treaties
with all these States and Statelets, and of the growth of practice, is that we control
their external relations, and that they agree not to admit foreign representatives
(except in the case of Muscat) or to cede territory to foreign Powers or to grant
oil, and (except in the case of Muscat) certain other, concessions without our
consent.
3. The Arab Shore Air Route. —In 1931 the Persian Government declined to
renew the permit of Imperial Airways to fly over Persian territory, and it was
decided to transfer the service to the Arab shore of the Gulf. For this purpose it
was necessary to provide a night stopping place on the Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. . After
prolonged negotiations with many of the Trucial Sheikhs, conducted by the
Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. , the late Sir H. Biscoe, an agreement was concluded with the
Sheikh of Sharjah, under which a resthouse for Imperial Airways passengers was
provided at that place. It had already been decided that the strategic route of the
Royal Air Force should lie along the Arab shore. Facilities for the necessary
refuelling depots and emergency landing grounds for this had to be obtained from
the Arab Sheikhs concerned, and this has occasionally been a matter of some
difficulty.
4. Oil. —A number of oil companies have in recent years taken an interest in
the potentialities of the Arab shore of the Gulf. In 1925 the Eastern and General
Syndicate, a firm of concession-hunters, obtained an oil concession from the Sheikh
of Bahrein. The Company was not prevented by the terms of the concession from
transferring it to foreign interests, and it was found necessary to allow them to
* The Foreign Office, of course, retain departmental responsibility for relations with Persia, Iraq, and
Saudi Arabia, even in matters which affect the smaller States.
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