File 4949/1912 Pt 1 ‘Persian Gulf: Abu Musa oxide’ [‎21r] (46/566)

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FThis Document is Uie Property of His Britannic Majesty’s Government.
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PERSIA.
,: 6 6 4
June 19.
CONFIDENTIAL.
1 UAL. J
Section 2.
6352/67/91] No. 1.
Sir P. Loraine to the Marquess Curzon of Kedleston.—(Received June 19.)
Mv lotIF Tehran ’ Ma y 18 ,’ 1923 '
J I HAVE the honour, with reference to my telegram No. 148 of the 15th instant,
to transmit to your Lordship the accompanying copy of a memorandum which 1 read
to the Prime Minister on the 16th instant, on the subject of Abu Musa. I drew
his Highness’s especial attention to the conciliatory spirit m which His Majesty s
Government had dealt with the incident of 1904, but pointed out that the essence
; of the matter was one on which they could not possibly compromise; the She ™ t
{ Shargah was under their protection, and they would, if necessary, take action
unhold his rights on the Island of Abu Musa. , w
His Highness listened carefully to what I had to say, but did not offer any
comment. He said, however, that there was also a question being raised about
f" Bahrein I told his Highness that I was quite aware of this, and that very likely
he would shortly receive an official communication from me on the ® u fe ot , h A?L 0 ®
moment I was withholding any representation, because I understood that the i' 1 '' 1 - ' 1
brought forward in the Majlis for authorising Bahrein to return a Dep^y to that
Assembly had been shelved and apparently removed from the^agenda of yeChamb ^
his Highness had however, mentioned the subject, I thought it to be my ou y
to him as f loyal friend to warn him in a friendly way of the undesirability of this
question being raised or of any attempt being made to revive Persian pretensions
to the sowreig^ty of the^s ness o{ ^ higtory 0 j the island with which he seemed
very imperfectly acquainted, and of the fact that since 1783 no form of Persian
administration had been exercised in Bahrein, that at that time the Persians had
been finally driven out of the island by the Arabs, that they had never made any
attempt to" retake it and that later on the island had become a British protectorate.
Thai was the present situation, and His Majesty’s Government would unhesitatingly
reject any attempt on the part of Persia or any other country to claim the
sovereignty of^Bahrein^ t j ie Persian Government would be careful to refrain
from any action in that sense, which would be inadvisable at any time, but especia y
so at a moment when his Highness, as he had told me several times aimed at a
restoration of the old relations of friendly and mutual confidence between Great
Britain and Persia. 0I , les 0 f this despatch to the Government of India, His
Majesty™ High Commissioner at Bagdad, and to His Majesty’s consul-general at
Bushire. j have, &c.
PERCY LORAINE.
42/
Enclosure in No. 1.
Memorandum.
yyc'a K rll ifc ptant oarvenus an Ministre d’Angleterre a 1 effet que le Gouverne-
ment fmueW pei“n Turlk Itudid la possibility de soulever une pretention a la
souverainete de file d’Abou Moussa, Sir Percy Lorarne croit utile de rappeler
1 incident survenu a cet egard en 1904. A cette epoque, un agent de la douane
nersane s’etait rendu a Akm Moussa et s’etait rendu a permis d amener le pavi Ion
du Cheikh de Chargah en hissant a sa place le drapeau persam. En apprenant c
fait le Gouvernement de Sa Majeste britannique envisagea 1 envoi d un vaisseau
dp o-nerre nour soutenir les droits du cheikh, qui se trouve sous la protection
Gouvernement des Indes; mais, voulant eviter de brusquer 1’affaire, qui pouvait bien
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