"تاريخ الحرب الكبرى استنادًا إلى وثائق رسمية: العمليات في بلاد فارس ١٩١٤-١٩١٩" [و‎‎٦‎٩] (٥٦٦/١٤٢)

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Though Mustaufi-ul-Mamalik at first told Mr. Marling that Central
he would recall the Governor-General from Shiraz, he soon Aiikd poHey
began to try to impose conditions which we could not accept. September
Sir Edward Grey, realising that Mr. Marling was in a very I 9i5-
difficult position owing to the German armed menace and the
lack of Allied military support, then gave Mr. Marling con
siderable latitude in conducting the negotiations for the
restoration of Bushire. The Persian Government, however,
persisted in their unreasonable attitude and, even after the
attempt to murder Mr. Grahame, the British Consul-General
at Isfahan, and the murder of his Indian orderly, on the 1st
September—the fourth of a series of attempts against Allied
consular officials—Mr. Marling failed in two interviews with
Persian Ministers on the 2nd and 3rd September to obtain any
effective assurance that such outrages would be prevented in
the future. He warned them of the possible results of their
acquiescence in the German scheme of rendering the Allied
position in Persia impossible, and on the 3rd he reported that,
in view of the evident impotence of the Persian Government,
both the Russian Minister and he considered that even the
drawbacks entailed in the departure from Isfahan of their
respective consuls and colonies did not justify the risks involved
in their remaining there.
On the 4th September the Russian Minister had an unsatis
factory interview with the Shah, who seemed to be very much
under enemy influence. It appeared to all the Allied repre
sentatives at Tehran that the Persian Government's inaction,
in face of the German efforts to bring about a rupture with the
Allies and a Turco-Persian alliance, created such a critical
situation that—unless drastic measures were taken by the
Allies or unless they obtained a military success sufficient to
shake Persian belief in German invincibility—neither Allied
officials nor Allied subjects would be able to remain in Persia
much longer. As there was no time, even if they had the troops
available, for either British or Russians to bring sufficient
military pressure to bear, they considered that the only course
was to give Persia the choice of declaring herself within, say,
forty-eight hours, either for or against the Allies. They
believed that there was a chance that Persia would declare,
on terms, for the Allies.
On the 5th September Sir Edward Grey authorised the with- Isfahan;
drawal of the British consul and colony from Isfahan if it September
became imperative. On the 6 th, Mr. Marling, learning that
the Persian Prime Minister had replied to a telegraphic enquiry