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Coll 28/67 ‘Persia. Annual Reports, 1932–’ [‎58r] (115/644)

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The record is made up of 1 file (320 folios). It was created in 6 Dec 1933-27 Mar 1947. It was written in English and French. The original is part of the British Library: 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. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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15
75. In November the Iraqi Prime Minister told His Majesty’s Ambassador
that during the past few months the Iraqi Government had addressed eleven notes
to the Persian Government about the behaviour of the Persian navy, without
producing the slightest effect. He asked whether His Majesty’s Government
would join the Iraqi Government in their protests on the ground of the danger
which this behaviour caused to British life and shipping. It did not appear
that up till then the Iraqi Government had taken any steps to press the
Conservancy Board upon the Persian Government.
76. In December the Persian Minister for Foreign Affairs informed His
Majesty’s Minister that the Persian Government intended to embark on negotia
tions about the Shatt-el-Arab at once, as the Shah wished them to be concluded
before he visited Bagdad in the spring of 1934.
Shatt-el-Arab (General).
77. Some mention has been made above of the misbehaviour of the Persian
navy. This usually took the form of passing up and down the river at excessive
speeds, even in haze or sandstorms; of taking up berths at Abadan Reach without
reference to the port officer, and so causing general confusion; of manoeuvnng
in Abadan Reach to the danger of other vessels and of entering the one-way
Rooka channel from both directions without waiting for word from the control
officer. Major Bayendor, the commandant of the navy, made it clear that he did
not recognise the authority of the Port of Basra in any way; and even intimated
indirectly to the local officials of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company that, while he
would always be willing, if approached privately, to avoid action likely to
inconvenience the company’s shipping, it was immaterial to him how much
inconvenience he caused to the port authorities.
78. The situation was brought to a head by the arrest on the 23rd June
of Captain Macleod, a harbour-master at Abadan Reach. Captain Macleod had
gone on board the Persian warship Palang in order to place his sei vices at the
disposal of the commander while the vessel.was going alongside one of the jetties
at Abadan. This was in accordance with the usual practice by which trie
services of harbour-masters were invariably offered to foreign warships, which
were free (unlike merchant-vessels) to accept them or not at their discretion, and
the commanders of Persian warships used, in fact, frequently to accept a haiboui -
master’s services, in spite of their general attitude, whenever the operation on
which they were engaged was at all difficult. Moreover, in this case, Captain
Macleod had already arranged with one of the junior officers to come on board
as soon as the vessel started to go alongside. Once on board he was allowed to
proceed to the bridge, and it was only when he tried to leave that he was detained
and subsequently placed under arrest by Major Bayendor. From the Palang he
was removed to Mohammerah and kept under arrest in the naval barracks, where
he seems to have been well treated.
79. Energetic protests were at once made by His Majesty s Charge
d’Affaires against the illegal arrest of a British subject and by the Iraqi Minister
against the arrest of an Iraqi official in Iraqi waters. The protests of the former
led to the issue by the Persian Government of urgent orders for Captain Mac eod s
release, and he was set at liberty on the 30th June. The protests of the latter
led to little, except an acrid exchange of correspondence, m the course oi which
the Persian Government officially claimed Abadan Reach as a Persian port. As
regards the actual incident, the Persian Government explained that Captain
Macleod had been arrested because he had boarded the Palang after being warne
not to do so, and it transpired that he had, in fact, seen a seaman making some
signal with his arms which he took to be a warning to keep clear of the pi ope eis.
A nice legal point, which was not, however, discussed with the I ersian Govern
ment, was that, when Captain Macleod went on board, the Palang had already
passed a rope ashore, so that it was arguable whether she was in Persia or Iraq
at the time.
80 After this incident the behaviour of the Persian navy certainly showed
no improvement, and in October a serious accident was narrowly averted when the
Persian warship Chahbaaz suddenly passed across the bows of the tanker British
Captain as they were passing each other at the Inner Bar, causing the tanker to

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Content

Annual reports for Persia [Iran] produced by staff at the British Legation in Tehran. The reports were sent to the Foreign Office by HM’s Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary A diplomatic representative who ranks below an ambassador. The term can be shortened to 'envoy'. at Tehran (from 1943, Ambassador to Iran). The reports cover the following years: 1932 (ff 2-50); 1933 (ff 51-98); 1934 (ff 99-128); 1935 (ff 129-165); 1936 (ff 166-195); 1937 (ff 196-227); 1938 (ff 228-249); 1939 (ff 250-251); 1940 (ff 252-257); 1941 (ff 258-266); 1942 (ff 267-277); 1943 (ff 278-289); 1944 (ff 290-306); 1945 (ff 307-317); 1946 (ff 318-320).

The reports for 1932 to 1938 are comprehensive in nature (each containing their own table of contents), and cover: an introductory statement on affairs in Persia, with a focus on the Shah’s programme of modernisation across the country; an overview of foreign relations between Persia and other nations, including with the United Kingdom, British India, and Iraq; Persia’s involvement in international conventions and agreements, for example the League of Nations and the Slave Traffic Convention; British interests in or associated with Persia, including Bahrain and Bahrainis resident in Persia, the 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. at Bushire, the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, Imperial Bank of Persia, and the Imperial and International Communications Company; political affairs in Persia, including court and officials, majlis, tribes and security; economic affairs in Persia (government finances and budgets, trade, industry, agriculture, opium production); communications (aviation, railways, roads); consular matters; military matters (army, navy, air force).

Reports from 1939 to 1946 are briefer in nature, Reports from 1941 onwards focusing on the Anglo-Soviet occupation of Persia, and the role of United States advisors in the Persian Government’s administration.

The file includes a divider, which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.

Extent and format
1 file (320 folios)
Arrangement

The file’s reports are arranged in chronological order from the front to the rear of the file. Each report for the years 1932-1938 begins with a table of contents referring to that report’s own printed pagination sequence.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 321; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio.

The file contains one foliation anomaly, f 308A

Pagination: Each of the reports included in the file has its own printed pagination system, commencing at 1 on the first page of the report.

Written in
English and French in Latin script
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Coll 28/67 ‘Persia. Annual Reports, 1932–’ [‎58r] (115/644), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/3472A, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100056661166.0x000074> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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