Coll 17/15(2) 'Relations with Persia: Persia-Iraq frontier; Persia's claim in the Shatt-el-Arab' [‎495r] (998/1010)

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Extract From Despatch No. 178 dvted tth- on,.
From Sir Robert Ceive, K.C M.G., H.B.M’s 1928 ’,
a,™ C...U,K.G., M.I'., s, ‘
Ans)
in Mr. Jacks’ notes of his conversation with Tey^nOT^che ^ followin 8 sta tement
“ HiS be» t Ck ‘ a°; em r nt was 0Ut t0 bri “g a!1
the Shatt-al-Arab river, which had wrongly bZh^feZft “
established on Persian teTitory ” txCel,enc y P erm “ the ^ Office to be
• , T i li t s P , 0 ! 114 t ? ls ° l sl ? a11 rai f e ^th His Excellency in conversation I shall
point out to him that he has submitted proposals for the recognition o ‘ Ira- by
Persia, that I am awaiting instructions to reply to these proposals, that i was 0 nlv
a fortnight ago that for the first time he raised directly with me the Question of ti e
frontier line in the Shatt-al-Arab, and that I consider it therefore most extraordh
nary-if not unfriendly-behaviour on the part of the Persian Government to try
and force oiu hands m these matters while the whole question of ‘Iraq is under
negotiation through the usual diplomatic channels.
Copy of a Paraphrased Telegram No. 237 dated the 25th of April,
1928, From High Commissioner, Baghdad, to the Secretary of State for
the Colonies, London, Repeated to Prodrome Teheran No. 57.
Teheran’s despatch setting forth all circumstances connected with recent
Persian proceedings has just been seen by me. This shows such calculated and
official unfriendliness towards ‘ Iraq on part of Persia on main ground apparently of
‘Iraq’s maintenance, under the Treaty of Erzerum, of her rights to the whole
waters of the Shatt-al-Arab that there appears to me real danger of serious com
plications arising at any time along ‘ Iraq Persian frontier. It is suggested that
His Britannic Majesty’s Government might consider whether affairs have not
reached such a stage as to make it advisable to bring to the attention of the Council
of the League under League Covenant (Paragraph 2 of Article 11), all circumstances
now affecting good understanding between Persia and ‘Iraq notably refusal of Persia
to recognise ' Iraq in spite of recognition by League, demand for judicial privileges
for Persians, demand for rectification of frontier and demand for prolongation of
period within which persons may opt for Persian nationality. If His Britannic
Majesty’s Government were inclined towards this step, and before the suggestion
was taken any further, the ‘Iraq Government would, of course, have to be consulted.
Extract from despatch No. 183 dated the 20th of April, 1928,
from Sir Robert Clive, K.C.M.G., His Britannic Majesty s
Minister, Teheran, to Sir Austen Chamberlain,
K.G., M.P., Foreign Office, London.
5. It was not until I received this morning telegram No. 8 f rom His
Majesty’s Consul at Ahwaz which I have repeated t° you under No 106 tha ^
learnt of a further serious feature of the matter, the sending o a <
to stop H.M.S. “ Enterprise ” in mid-stream otf the port of Abadan I havejhe
honour to enclose a copy of the official protest wine i am at c t ®‘ j
Government on this point as stated in my telegram V the waters of
have taken this opportunity of reaffirming the "g ®of I U h , conseque nt
the Shatt-al-Arab up to low water mark y^C^Xiut lining within Persian
corollary that ships may moor alongside the jetty - -i • cn r jj Dobbs’
jurisdiction. This will; I trust, meet the main point raised m Sir G.
telegram to the Colonial Office of the 19th Apn .