Coll 17/15(2) 'Relations with Persia: Persia-Iraq frontier; Persia's claim in the Shatt-el-Arab' [‎494r] (996/1010)

on w gig n^lit of course m exolBiiuiiio’ fUaf tt* i\r •
regard the present Perso-Iraq frontier as final ail'd not Majesty s Government
should be particularly careful to give Persian Minis^ P ° dl8c “. »nd you
His Majesty's Government won® d support them t an^end " 8011 t0 ima ^ e ^
revision in their favour. They should on the contran he “ 1°” 5° ° btain its
by pursuing the matter further they have nothing to gain. L t0 understaild that
According to Baghdad despatch of the 10 th March 1927 they seem to w
a case for the revision of the present system of port dues or, the oi if , , , hav ?
am not clear that there is any real need for the 1 present frontier 1
from their point of view. If there is, however^rey must real "e tlf^he ^
have to win the consent of the government and people of ‘ W and must'be
prepared to offer concessions at least of equal value. In any case there is nothing
to be done until they have taken steps to recognise the ‘ Iraq Government and
establish relations with them on a friendly basis. 1 lient and
Extract from telegram “ R ” No. 86 dated 1st April, 1928,
from Sir Robert Clive, Teheran, to Foreign Office, London.
I asked Minister of the Court for indication of points Persian Government
wished to raise.
His Excellency mentioned the frontier line on the left bank of Shatt-al-Arab.
I said that this was a question to be raised with ‘ Iraq Government after recogni
tion. He said that he recognised that no agreement could be made till then but
would it be possible to discuss the question with a view to an agreement after
recognition. I said that I did not think so. He enlarged on the unfairness to
Persia of the present frontier which should according to universal custom be in
mid-stream. He cited other points on land frontier with ‘Iraq. I gave no
encouragement.
Extract from Private and Confidential letter dated the 3rd April, 1928,
from Sir Robert Clive, K.C.M.G., His Britannic Majesty’s Minister,
Teheran to Sir Henry R. C. Hobbs, K.C.S.I., K.C.M.G., K.C.I.E.,
I.C.S., His Majesty’s High Commissioner for 1 Iraq, Baghdad.
To show how keen they are on coming to terms with ‘Iraq I may add that
Teymour raised, in the course of our interview, the question of the frontier m the
Shatt-al-Arab. He talked about the whole frontier as delimited m 1913 and said
that broadly the Persians had gained in the north and lost_ m the south and now
the Turks refused to recognise the northern frontier. Phis was very un air o
Persia and he hoped the ‘ Iraq Government would be willing to discuss the question
of various points on the frontier but especially in the Shatt-al-Aia . sa
these questions could not be raised before recognition. He sai le qui < ,
this but could they not be discussed with a view to coming to some agreement a
r ecognition. I said I thought not.