Coll 17/15(1) 'Perso-Iraq Relations: Persia-Iraq frontier; Persia's claim in the Shatt-el-Arab' [‎323r] (657/961)

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THTS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY’S GOVERNMENT
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EASTERN (Iraq).
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3169
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CONFIDENTIAL
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No. 1.
September 25, 1934.
j Section 1.
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[E 5903/197/34]
Sir John Simon to Mr. Ogilvie-Forbes {Bagdad).
(No. 662.) ’ /
gj r Fofeign Office, September 25, 1934.
’ WITH reference to your despatch No. 540 of the 11th September regarding
Perso-Iraqi relations, I have to inform you that Nuri Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. -es-Said arrived in
London on the 17th September and left again on the 20th September. I was
myself absent at Balmoral during this time, but his Excellency had interviews
with Sir Robert Vansittart and Mr. Rendel.
2. The object of Nuri Pasha’s visit was, as had been anticipated, to repeat
the request of the Iraqi Government for the advice of His Majesty’s Government
as to the desirability of appealing to the League of Nations against the refusal
of Persia to recognise the validity of the frontier laid down by the International
Commission in the years 1913-14.' He said that he was strongly inclined to lodge
forthwith an appeal with the Council of the League under paragraph 2 oi
article 11 of the Covenant. The specific grounds of complaint would be three in
number and refer to the provocative activities of the Persian Government on the
frontier; {a) the establishment of numerous police posts on Iraqi territory;
(b) the disregard shown by Persian warships in the Shatt-el-Arab for the regu
lations of the Port of Basra Administration with consequent danger to other
shipping and much prejudice to Iraq’s interests; and {c) the vexatious cutting
off of supplies of water on which villages, especially m the Lhaniqm area,
depended for their maintenance. So soon as the appeal had ee T 0 & e ’
before it was heard (the first possible date was the January session of the Council),
he would offer the Persian Government a settlement on the lines P^posed and
provisionally accepted by them in 1932, i.e., the Conservancy oar i ’
by which Persia would acquire a degree of control m the S hat Cel-Arab. In orde^
to render such a settlement the more attractive he would throw m
pooling equally the royalties from the whole of the Naft K ane ° ,
would be on the general lines of the set .^ emen ^N > ^ llc ^ l .^ ia 1 ( io 9 ^ n n C ° tt i pl ^ en t which
discussed at the time of King Eeisal’s visit to Tehran m 1 Pprsian Minister
Nuri Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. thought might have materialised had not the prese it with the
for Foreign Affairs, Kazemi, exerted his personal influence against it
3. It was suggested to Nuri Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. that though this 0 f
advantages, it was also attended by some dangers. 6 o n d there was
course, unassailable, in the opinion of His Majesty s ove , ^ what
much io be said for showing one’s adversary from the On
one said, and was not afraid to submit one s case to an P art jq e n would
the other hand an appeal to the Council of the Leagu ^ suggestions
not necessarily lead to a judicial decision and mig P® J moreover, the
for a compromise detrimental to Iraq’s interests. Jhere moi^ ^ ^
factor that the frontier line on the Shatt el Arab a inj 3 _p 4 had defined
a point approximately opposite Pao, wh ® r ® ^ ^Ttoioint it was difficult to say
it as coming in from the open sea; south east of p nnite possible that
where the proper line of the frontier should run a validitv of the
where the proper line of the frontier snoma iu t v e validity of the
the Council, Aile they could hardly do less than confirm theja^ ^
1913-14 frontier as a whole, might he pressed t even t|- ie w hole of the
might interpret it in a manner which might p ers i a , as it was, owned
Rooka channel under Persian sovereignty. In
half the river opposite Mohammerah. damrers of a compromise on the
4. Nuri Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. was inclined to discount h a d at one time enter-
ground that the Persian Minister for Foreign ’ ,, apparently failed to
tained the idea of appealing to the Lea q? / . in par ticular, Nuri believed,
secure any support for the Persian case. '' ’ . • t0 t } ie re cent meeting
sounded the Soviet and Polish Governments while on his way 10
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