مجموعة ٣٠/٢٤ "بلاد فارس والخليج الفارسي، البحرية الفارسية. زيارة الموانئ العربية" [و‎‎٢‎٠‎٩] (٩٠٨/٤٢٦)

Minute Paper.
Department.
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In dealing with this question, which has
become unnecessarily complicated, it may be of use to
recapitulate very briefly its past history.
The Persian navy will consist of two gunboats
of 950 tons and four patrol vessels of 330 tons. The
patrol vessels will^be used mainly for anti-smuggling
duty on the Persian side of the Gulf. The two gunboat
are obviously bigger than is necessary for that purpo
and are probably being built merely for the purpose of
"showing the flag". It seems most unlikely that they
will remain on the Persian side of the Gulf. The
various troubles ■which may arise from the arrival oi
the Persian navy are:-
(a) They may seize Arab rulers’ dhows on the
pretext of ant i-smuggling or anti-arms traffic
action. * It is not suggested that we can do anything
about this unless and until an actual case arises in
which it is claimed that an Arab dhow has been
illegally seized by a Persian warship.
(b) The Persian warships may visit Hen jam anu
Basidu and cause unpleasantness at these two British
naval bases, but as both Hen jam and Basidu are
acknowledged in fact to be Persian territory, we are
not in a position to object to Persian ships going
there. The only thing will be to put a good face on
it and try and avoid friction between the Persian
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and British crev/s.
(c) The Persian ships may make a sudden attack c
one of the disputed islands, e.g., Tamb or Abu
Musa, v/hich are the property of the Sheikh oi
Shargah/ xv
U5p
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