File 2764/1904 Pt 3 'Baghdad Railway: general negotiations 1910-1912.' [‎178v] (367/544)

from Sadi jell wit hin any specified time. Besides, the construction of that line was
necessarily a long way off, whereas the Baku—Tehran line might he built in a very
short time. He was informed that the whole trans-Bersian line via Tehran could he
completed in two years. . }
M. Sazonow thus seems to contemplate the possibility of Russia s commencin >«
railway construction in north Persia in the immediate future, and no doubt, if fils
anticipations are realised, the question of priority between the two competing lines
could in practice hardly arise. It seems clear, however, that if Russia should remain
inactive until the German railway approaches Bagdad, Germany would have good
grounds to ask that the extension of the line to.the Persian frontier and beyond should
be taken in hand at the least simultaneously with the construction of the projected line
from Baku.
M. Sazonow made an observation on another point, which may be of importance.
The promoters of the trans-Persian scheme now, he said, proposed that the railway
should run from Tehran southwards to Ispahan, and thence to Yezd and Kerman.
This, he said, would make it comparatively easy for the extension of the German line
to intersect the trans-Persian line at Ispahan. He considered it preferable, therefore,
that the trans-Persian line should take a south-easterly direction from Tehran towards
Kerman, even though it would then traverse the desert. I may mention that
M. Sazonow speaks very confidently of the whole scheme, although he is aware, as
reported in my despatch No. 380 of the 17th September last, that it may meet with
considerable opposition from the British side.
I have, &c.
HUGH O’BEIRNE.