خارجي ٣٢١٤/١٩٤١ "أحوال أقارب شيخ المحمرة الراحل في العراق: أنشطة الشيخ كاسب" [ظ‎‎٣‎٧] (٤١٢/٧٤)

-
■Mm
Persian Gulf
Annual Report
for 1923, p. 57
(Persia,
No. 35).
Conf. 12445,
§§ 163-166.
E 4392/1416/
34/1923.
E4612/77/34/
1923
H4392, E 5061,
E 6369/1416/
34/1923.
E 5731, E7267/
77/34/1923
10
interposed between himself and the Central Government ; it - ^^‘td' u'uauj
been frequent troubles between him and the Bakht , J
managed to combine in the face of a common danger The Bakhtiaris were nnea
for complicity in the attack on the Persian troops at bhahl in F evl ° us r -
-e?. .o r , P « « °' l S ~ Sr."
Persian Government and in October a body ot 2o trreater power in
Shnshtar under Colonel Baqir Khan, who began to exercise greater powt^
^"^t^e^eX^lwrLurce of constant anxiety to His Majesty's
Legation for the best paZf the year, but as a result of ^
ment was reached in the middle of November. Bj this settleme .
to pav 500 000 tomans in respect of arrears. 100.000 tomans down and he
remainder spread over twenty years; a sum of 150 000 ^f t ^Xn
annually in future by the Sheikh in respect of both direct andindir^t taxaUom
from which a deduction of 20,000 tomans would be allowed to cover the She
pension and other legitimate taxes. The Sheikh was thus allowel to continue to
control indirect revenue, but a financial agent of the Central Government was to
remain as inspecting officer for the whole province of Arabistan.
30. In April, 1923, when the Persian Government were P re P& ri ng to send a
military force against the Bakhtiaris, Sir P. Lorame spoke to the Shah, the Pn e
Minister the Foreign Minister and Reza Khan on the dangers of provoking the
tribes in the south, with possibly harmful effects on both British and I ersian
interests The Minister of War was not to be moved from his purpose, however,
and 1 Sir P. Loraine reported at the end of the month that there were further
indications to confirm that Arabistan was the ulterior objective m wl } lc b case
Reza Khan would doubtless pursue the same tactics with the Sheikh ashe had with
the Bakhtiaris; the question of our assurances to the Sheikh would then arise.
A few days later Sir P. Loraine telegraphed saying that an immediate decision
was required whether we were to support or oppose the extension of the authority
of the Central Government throughout the entire country, and, in either case, by
what means; to support the Minister of War would mean the almost certain lapse
of our local friendships (of which the most important and difficult case was that
of the Sheikh of Mohammerah), but by giving such support we might obtain a
measure of control over Reza Khan and perhaps some definite assurances as
regards the Sheikh’s position; on the other hand, to oppose him meant the pros
pect of the same local friendships crumbling under visible force, the gradual
collapse of our position and influence unless we were prepared to use force, the
thwarting of the one chance that had appeared for decades of a stable Persia
under Persian control, a period of intense friction with the Persian Government
almost certainly leading to a rupture, and, finally playing into the hands ot
Russia. Lord Curzon, however, was not to be rushed into formulating a new
policy at this juncture and replied to Sir P. Loraine calling attention to what His
Majesty’s Government had done to help the Persian Government and to the
apparent inability of Reza Khan to appreciate our attitude in his pursuance of
an ambition to create a military dictatorship for himself ; as regards the Sheikh
we were bound to him by special obligations which we had no intention to ignore;
Reza Khan must be made to realise that he could not prosecute his centralising
policy to a point where it ran directly counter to British interests ; in the last
resort he was dependent upon His Majesty’s Government—who were alone able
to afford him that financial support which he required. The Foreign Office also
arranged with the Admiralty to hold some of His Majesty s ships in readiness
to proceed to Mohammerah and also up the Karun should it prove necessary to
support May g ir p Loraine had a meeting with the Prime Minister
and Reza Khan, who, after expressing a wish for the general improvement of
Anglo-Persian relations and repeating assurances as regards British interests,
said that far from having any complaints against the Sheikh, they wished and
meant to support him; for internal reasons they wished to send 200 men to
Shushtar; Reza Khan said that the presence of some troops in Arabistan was
vital to his prestige and that if His Majesty’s Government were to veto the pro
posal he would have to resign; he gave his word of honour—and promised written
assurances that the troops would not interfere with the Sheikh, but that their
orders would be to support him against any who might question his authority;
the Prime Minister also promised to telegraph to the Sheikh saying that the
Persian Government had no grievances against him and were entirely well
disposed; Sir P. Loraine (who took the view that acquiescence in the despatch