'F 80 File 82/34 I APOC Concession' [‎124r] (232/436)

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THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY'S GrOYERNMENT
PERSIA.
TTAT, \
CONFIDENTIAL.
_E 43/17/34]
j January 2, 1933.
•USHIRF REWDfNCY,
A#4 .f- . ... '—' .
S ection 1.
OON^NT-jAL t!£00BBi
Mr. Hoare to Sir John Simon.—[Received January 2, 1933.)
(No. 543.)
Sir, Tehran, December 17, 1932.
WITH reference to my despatch No. 532 of the 14th December, enclosing
the full text of the Persian note of the 12th December about the cancellation of
the Anglo-Persian Oil Company concession, I have the honour to transmit to you
herewith a record of a statement made by the Minister for Foreign Affairs at a
special session of the Majlis, held on Thursday, the 15th December, together
with a record of some of the other speeches. No motion was placed before the
House, and no vote taken.
2. There is nothing of note in Feroughi's statement, beyond what appears
to be an assurance, given in language as unqualified as the circumstances would
permit, that no interference in the company's operations was intended. The
general tone, like that of the more recent press utterances, is less assertive and
on the whole more conciliatory than the comments of a week ago. It is at least
admitted that " equity " should apply to the company as well as the Government.
3. There has been no time before the departure of the bag to gain any idea
of the impression upon the Persian Government and press of the news that
His Majesty's Government have taken the question to the League of Nations
instead of the Permanent Court. But it may be of interest to record that the
immediate reaction of one or two intelligent Persians was to regard a reference
to Geneva as a less severe step than a reference to The Hague.
4. The only newspaper comment so far available is a short comment in the
Shafaq-i-Surkh on the British official news, stating that His Majesty's Govern
ment had decided to refer the issue to the Council of the League of Nations. The
Shafaq-i-Surkh remarks that Eeuter's correspondent appears to have made a
mistake in the above news, because in their note the Persian Government expressed
the view that a reference to the League of Nations would become necessary if
and when the British Government made themselves an obstacle to the progress
of discussions between the company and the Persian Government and brought
coercion to bear against the latter. Otherwise the Persian Government consider
this controversy to be definitely an ordinary internal matter between a business
company and themselves, which should be solved according to the ordinary laws
of Persia.
5. I am sending copies of this despatch to the Foreign Secretary to the
Government of India (No. 263), the Hon. the Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in the Persian
Gulf, Bushire (No. 222), His Majesty's consul at Ahwaz (No. 99), and to
His Majesty's Ambassador at Bagdad (No. 131).
I have, &c.
R. H. HOARE.
Enclosure in No. 1.
Record of a Statement hy M. Feroughi.
HIS Highness Feroughi read in the Majlis the text of notes exchanged with
the British Government on the subject of cancellation of the D'Arcy Concession,
after which he made the following statement:—
The trend of events has so far been as reported. The honourable Deputies
are quite well aware—and the contents of the notes also make it clear—why
the Persian Government has cancelled the D'Arcy Concession. Briefly, it had
two reasons : One was that, in principle, it was not satisfied with the Concession
[691 b—1]