Coll 28/22 ’Persia; Relations with H.M.G. Persian Debt to H.M.G.’ [‎89v] (178/385)

(6) Cession to Persia of wireless station at Hen jam and wireless apparatus
at Bushire and Lingah.
(7) Removal of British Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. from Bushire.
o. The concessions offered to the Persian Government, as enumerated in
the preceding paragraph, are in point of fact of less importance than at first
sight appears. The Persian Government, for example, have no intention of
repaying the war and post-war debt, which they consider was spent in British
rather than Persian interests at a time when British troops were in occupation
of the country, and which ought, so the Persian Minister of Court maintains,
to be regarded as British war expenditure. The British claim to Basidu is
legally so weak that it could not he maintained if seriously challenged by Persia.
Again, it is not possible for His Majesty’s Government and the Government of
India to do other than hand over to Persia the Persian section of the Duzdab
Railway, built during the war on Persian territory without Persia’s consent.
It is clear that the Persian Minister of Court would prefer a more spectacular
success than that which he would obtain through a settlement by which Persia
obtained merely the concessions set forth above. It is for this reason that he has
raised the question of the withdrawal of the British naval depot from Henjam.
6. Henjam, however, is not the only point on which Teymourtache is raising
difficulties. He refuses to abandon the Persian claim to Bahrein. There is no
indication that he is prepared to abandon the similar claims to Tamb and Abu
Musa, or that he will be prepared to agree to a satisfactory claims article. The
one and only advantage which he now holds out as an inducement to His Majesty’s
Government to conclude a treaty is the possibility of an extension of the
permission for Imperial Airways to operate the Soutii Persian air route.
7. As regards the air route, His Majesty’s Government have carefully
endeavoured hitherto to avoid giving Teymourtache the impression that they
are entirely dependent upon Persia for the continuance of the British civil air
route to India. In Sir John Simon’s opinion it is important to continue to take
this line. If Teymourtache is given reason to believe that the Persian air route
is a question of vital importance to His Majesty’s Government, there can be no
doubt that he will refuse to give them satisfaction as regards Bahrein, Tamb, or
Abu Musa, or, indeed, as regards any of the other points in the general treaty.
Moreover, even if His Majesty's Government were to agree to accept the air route
as the only tangible advantage to be derived by them from the treaty, they can
have no guarantee that the Persian Government would thereafter carry out the
spirit, as well as the letter, of their obligation; there can be no effective guarantee
to prevent them from cancelling Imperial Airways’ concession at anv time on the
pretext that the company have failed to abide by the conditions of their contract.
Finally, the Secretary of State feels strongly that the acceptance of the Persian
proposal would form an undesirable precedent; that it would become known,
not o^ly in Persia, but also in other countries, that political concessions could be
extracted from His Majesty’s Government as the price of a permit to operate
air services over foreign territory; and that exactly similar difficulties would
arise with the Persian Government when Imperial Airways’ new contract
eventually expired.
8. Sir John Simon therefore feels that, as regards the air route, Mr. Hoare
should receive instructions to take the line that this question is not one of those
which was to have been dealt with in the general treaty; that if the Persian
Government are finally determined to close to international traffic the only
i oute aci oss I ersia, His Majesty s Government have no intention of
offering them any political concessions to induce them to change their decision,
hut will, if necessary, make alternative arrangements for avoiding Persian
territory altogether until the Persian Government are willing to adopt a less
unreasonable and obstructive attitude towards this question. Mr. Hoare would,
however, make it clear that, so long as any international aviation is allowed to
operate this, or any other, route across Persia, His Majesty’s Government
naturally expect that Imperial Airways will he allowed to do so on the same terms
9 As regards Henjam, the Secretary of State has long been of the opinion
that the Persian Government would shortly seek to bring about the withdrawal
ot the British depot. At the same time, the sudden change of front on the part
of the Minister of Court, after negotiations for a lease have been in progress
with him for some years, is most unsatisfactory, and it might at first sio-ht appear