'File 12/1 [1 A/1 I] Persian Claims to Bahrain' [‎17v] (39/502)

12
Teh. Desp.
86 , Oct.
1848.
Lor. I, 875.
F.O. to Teh.,
No. 23, of
21.8.1844.
Hertslet, 6.
Lor. I, 876-
7.
promised him military assistance from Persia. On repre
sentations being thereupon made to the Persian Prime
Minister by Her Majesty’s Minister at Tehran, the Prime
Minister “ informed me that Sheikh Suleiman had acted with
great presumption in having interfered in political affairs
without having any authority from the Government, and he
said that he would reprimand him for his conduct. His
Excellency added that Bahrein belonged to Persia and that
she would take possession of it when more pressing affairs
were disposed of. As I looked on this as mere idle boasting
which was never likely to be fulfilled, I thought it unnecessary
to pursue the conversation.”
42. It may be recorded that on a second visit of the
ex-Sheikh to Bushire from December 1843 to March 1844,
he is stated to have been received with distinction by the
Persians, and to have offered, if reinstated, to pay the cost,
to remit in future a large annual tribute to the Shah, and to
leave one son as a hostage in Persia. His proposals were
not, however, accepted by the Persian Government.
43. In 1844 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.
was instructed by the Government of India to resist by force
any attempt by Persia to establish troops on the island of
Bahrein. During the same year the ex-Sheikh, having, while
residing at Naband in South Persia, captured two Bahreini
vessels, the ruling Sheikh appealed to the Resident, with the
result that an injunction was issued by the Central Persian
Government at the instance of the British envoy directing
the Governor-General of Ears to compel Sheikh Abdulla to
give up the boats he had taken and abstain from disturbing
the peace of the Gulf.
Views of His Majesty’s Government on Persian Claim and
on future Policy, 1844-45.
44. Consequent on indications that Persia intended to
intervene in the succession at Bahrein on behalf of the
ex-Sheikh Abdullah the general question of policy was
considered by Her Majesty’s Government in the early part
of 1844, in the light of an intimation by the Government
of India that they would see the strongest objections to
any such interference by Persia, which could not but react
adversely on British interests. As a result, Her Majesty’s
Minister was informed (Foreign Office Despatch to Tehran,
No. 23, dated 1st May 1844) that “ the question of the right
of Persia to interfere and of the Indian Government to
prevent interference necessarily depends upon the validity
of the pretension put forward by Persia to the sovereignty
of Bahrein. Her Majesty’s Government are ignorant of the
grounds of such pretension, and, assuming those grounds
to be insufficient, they would claim for the British Govern
ment the right to prevent, if it accorded with its policy to
do so, any direct interposition of Persia in the quarrels
of rival claimants to the possession of Bahrein. The British
Government in India at present consider that any such
disturbance as may be occasioned by military operations
on the part of Persia directed against'the island of Bahrein
would be injurious to British interests, and, therefore,
unless Persia can show that she has a clear and indis
putable right to the sovereignty of Bahrein; that she has
exercised it without interruption under the dynasty of the
Kajar family ; that consequently her present policy is directed
to the maintenance of her lawful claims and not to the
assertion of a pretension not founded on law, she must be