'Status of the Islands of Tamb, Little Tamb, Abu Musa, and Sirri' [‎23r] (1/8)

CONFIDENTIAL.
Status of the Islands of Tamb, Little Tamb, Abu Musa,
and Sirri.
I.—Introductory.
1. Tanib, Abu Musa, and Sirri are three small islands lying well out in
the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. between the Trucial Arab coast and the Persian island of
Kishm. Little Tamb, an uninhabited and waterless island, 1 mile long by
j mile wide, 8 miles to the west of Tamb, was agreed by the Government
of India, 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 Foreign Office in 1908, to depend from
that island." Tamb itself is an island 1/ miles south of the south-west point * i-o. to f.o., Dec. 2
of Kishm Island and 46 miles north-west of the nearest point on the coast of 3369 /oVf o^to
Trucial Oman A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. , roughly circular in shape, and about' miles in diameter. Messrs, strick’
A lighthouse was erected on it by His Majesty’s Government in 1913 (see
paras. 25 to 28 below). It is sparsely inhabited and almost waterle ss. It Lor. ii, 1908.
appears probable that deposits of red oxide are to be found both in it and in
Little Tamb. Abu Musa is a larger and more thickly populated island, a Lor. n 1275
few miles nearer to Shargah in Trucial Oman A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. than to Lingah in Persia, with
good supplies of water, and valuable deposits of red oxide which have been
under exploitation for some years, and royalty in respect of which is paid to
the ruling family of Shargah. Sirri, 40 miles south by west of Bustaneh,
the nearest point on the Persian coast, is more prosperous and fertile Lor. ii, 1330 .
than Tamb, and, like it. contains deposits of red oxide, though these are t Pol. ues. to G. of
2. The history and status of these islands is identical. While, however,
the Trucial Sheikh of Shargah on the Arab coast still controls Tamb and
Abu Musa, on which he flies his flag. His Majesty’s Government, and the
Sheikh under protest, have since 1887 tacitly acquiesced in Persian
occupation of Sirri. The Persian flag was stated to have been hoisted on
Little lamb in 1901$ at the time of the Persian aggression on Tamb and + P()i Iu>s t() ( , of
Abu Musa. It was presumably removed at ihe same time as it was removed H Aprim 1904°
from those islands ; but 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. reported in November 1908
that the bhargah flag had not been flown on Little Tamb by the Sheikh.§ § Tei. from Viceroy
representative of the Jowasimi Arab chiefs, one section of whom in the
18th century established themselves by force or alliance at Lingah and
elsewhere in South Persia. The Persian claim to the islands has in the past
been based on the fact that the Jowasimi Arab Sheikhs of Lingah, under
whose administrative control they were for many years prior to 1887, had for
long been Persian subjects governing Lingah as Persian officials, and it was
that it was in this capacity that they had administered the
islands, which had become Persian territory. The latest Persian claim is
based on the fact that the islands, together with Farur, are shown as Persian
in a War Office map of 1867 of which copies were presented to the Shah
by the Minister at Teheran, under the orders of Lord Salisbury, in July 1888
(cp. paras. 34 and 36 below).
4. The recent reassertion of the Persian claim to the island of Tamb
renders necessary a more detailed examination of the history of that island,
and of the islands of Abu Musa and Sirri, the status of which is identical'
than would otherwise have been required. Persian ownership of Farur does
not appear to have been disputed in the past; the island is in any event in
a different category from Abu Musa, Tamb and Sirri, and no reference is
made to it in the present Memorandum.
II.—History of the Islands prior to 1887.
5. It has proved impossible to trace any reference to the history of the
islands in the 17th and 18th centuries. From 1720 the Arabs of Ras-al-
apparently unimportant.|
L, Jan. 23 1909,
P. 360/09.
It is not known whether steps have since been taken to do this.
3. The islands are claimed by the Trucial Sheikhs of Shargah as
to S. of S. for 1.,
Nov. 24 1908,
P. 2111/08.
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