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Ext 1133/47 'Foreign Office print: Persian Frontiers (with map)' [‎10v] (20/30)

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The record is made up of 1 file (11 folios). It was created in 31 Jan 1947 - March 1954. It was written in English. 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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14
and Sirri. In that year they despatched
a small force which seized Sirri island;
ever since then Sirri has remained in
Persian hands. From that time onwards
they have repeatedly laid claims to the
other islands. Great Britain, while tacitly
admitting the Persian claim to Sirri, has
always maintained that the Trucial
Shaikhs have sovereign rights over the
other islands. The Persian contention is
that the Arabs of Lingeh had acquired
their position on the islands when they
were domiciled in Persia and that they
were therefore Persian subjects at that
time. As stated above, it seems more
probable, however, that the Arabs had
already acquired their authority on the
islands before the time when they or their
companions settled on the Persian coast.
The view has been put forward that the
fact that a section of these Arabs later
acquired Persian nationality and held
their authority on the Persian coast as
chiefs or governors under the Persian
crown cannot affect any original rights
which the Trucial Arabs on the Arabian
coast and those on the Persian littoral may
have held in common. The position is
complicated by the fact that the Persian
Government have refused to recognise the
Shaikhs of Trucial Oman A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. as independent
rulers. The Persian Government have also
refused to recognise the independence of
the Shaikh of Koweit; their attitude
towards Bahrein has already been de
scribed. With the discovery of large oil
fields in these countries on the Arabian
shores of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , there is always
the possibility of international complica
tions arising, and it is by no means
improbable that the Persian Government
will again lay claim to sovereign rights over
these Arab countries.
76. In conclusion, some explanation must
be given of the special position of Great
Britain in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. . As has been
seen, the English East India Company
established itself in the Gulf early in the
XVIIth century, but its interests and
activities were purely commercial. It was
only towards the end of the XVIIIth
century, when the contending Dutch and
French interests had been eliminated and
( 12 ) By article XIII of the Anglo-Turkish Conven
tion of 29th July, 1918, the Ottoman Government
renounced all claim to the Bahrein islands and
recognised their independence. Although the out
break of war between Great Britain and Turkey
prevented the ratification of this Convention, the
defeat of Turkey and her resulting withdrawal from
the responsibility for policing the Gulf and
rendering it safe for trade had devolved
upon Great Britain, that her position
began to assume a political, as well as a
commercial, character. Since that time,
besides undertaking the suppression of
slavery and the prevention of illicit ai^
traffic in the Gulf, she has been instru
mental in quelling the pirates of Ras al-
Khaima and other places on the coast of
northern Oman and has entered into agree
ments with their rulers binding them and
their subjects to abstain from piracy. It
has already been seen how Great Britain
has championed their cause when Persia
has attempted to establish her authority
over their territories. In regard to Bahrein,
besides refuting numerous Persian claims
to sovereignty (see paras. 70 and 71 above),
Great Britain rejected similar preten
sions by Turkey on no less than nineteen
occasions between 1839 and 1905.( 12 ) In
1892, on one of the occasions when a
Turkish descent upon Bahrein seemed
imminent, Great Britain entered into the
exclusive series of separate agreements
with the rulers of Bahrein and the Trucial
Coast whereby the establishment of direct
relations between them and any other
Power was rendered impossible.
77. Lord Curzon, when Viceroy of India,
stated in a despatch in 1899 that the
Government of India could not allow “ any
European Power, and more especially
Russia, to overrun Central and Southern
Persia, and so to reach the Gulf or to
acquire naval facilities in the latter even
without such territorial connections.” In
1903 Lord Lansdowne declared in the
House of Lords that the British Govern
ment would “ regard the establishment of
a naval base or of a fortified port in the
Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. by any other Power as a very
grave menace to British interests, and we
should certainly resist it with all the means
at our disposal.”
78. Although Great Britain has, mainly
for strategic reasons, so consistently
regarded the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. as a British
preserve, she has never sought to secure for
herself sovereign rights over any portion
of Persian territory in that region.( 13 )
the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. rendered any subsequent ratifica
tion of this Convention superfluous.
( 1S ) No mention has been made here of the former
British naval stations at Basidu and Henjam,
because there was never any question of Great
Britain disputing the sovereign rights of Persia over
the areas concerned.
Research Department,
Foreign Office,
31s£ January, 1947.

About this item

Content

This file consists of a letter, reports, notes and maps regarding Persia’s frontiers. The Research Department of the Foreign Office produced a report, dated 31 January 1947, covering each frontier in turn. Two maps are included with the report.

Extent and format
1 file (11 folios)
Arrangement

The file's contents are arranged in approximate chronological order from the front to the rear of the file.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 13; 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.

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English in Latin script
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Ext 1133/47 'Foreign Office print: Persian Frontiers (with map)' [‎10v] (20/30), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/1201, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100059806291.0x000015> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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