'F 80 File 82/34 I APOC Concession' [‎145r] (252/436)

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THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY'S GOVERNMENT
PERSIA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
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BU8HIRF re9 (06NCY. 1
December 29, 1932,
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Section 1.
OMfiOfiTIAL SE0M64.
Mr. Hoare to Sir John Simon.—{Received December 29.)
(No. 532.)
Sir, Tehran, December 14, 1932.
WITH reference to my telegrams Nos: 225 and 231 of the 12th and
13th December, I have the honour to transmit to you herewith a translation of
the note that I have received from the Persian Government in reply to my note
of the 8th December about the cancellation of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company's
Concession.
2. This note shows every sign of having been drafted in a great hurry, and
one theory that I have heard advanced is that this was because the Shah, who
had approved its general tenor at Babul, on his way back from the Turkoman
races, had given orders thaj: the reply should reach me before he himself had
returned to the capital. The note, in fact, reached me on Monday morning (the
12th December), and His Imperial Majesty arrived back that evening.
3. The note is in the handwriting, not of one of the usual munshis A term used in the Middle East, Persia and South Asia to refer to a secretary, assistant or amanuensis. Munshis were employed in the British administration in the Gulf. of the
Ministry for Foreign Affairs, but the head of the English section himself. The
Persian style is said to resemble that of Teymourtache, though the Minister for
Foreign Affairs spoke to me as if he had drafted it himself. Jelal, in his haste,
wrote '' My dear Minister '' at the beginning of the note, but he has since
explained that this was a slip on his part and that " M. le Ministre " is correct.
It may be of some interest to record that the Persian note of the 3rd December
was in a handwriting believed to be that of Ghaffari, the Under-Secretary. I
am not clear what the Minister for Foreign Affairs expects to achieve by these
precautions, as the contents of the notes seem to become common property in the
town almost as soon as they have been despatched. The present one is published
in all the newspapers to-day.
4. I have, at Feroughi's request, supplied him with a copy of the English
translation, in order that he may send it to his Legation in London. His
Highness has since told the oriental secretary that, before doing so, he has made
one or two very minor alterations in the text, but that these do not alter the main
purport of the note in any way.
5. I am sending a copy of this despatch to the Foreign Secretary to the
Government of India (No. 250), 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 at Bushire (No. 216), the acting British consul, Ahwaz (No. 96), and to His-
Majesty's Ambassador at Bagdad (No. 128).
I have, &c.
R. H. HOARE.
Enclosure in No. 1.
(Translation.)
Persian Minister for Foreign Affairs to His Majesty's Minister.
M. le Ministre, December 12, 1932.
IN reply to vour Excellency's note of the 8th December, which was in reply
to my note of the 3rd December, I have the honour to state as follows :
1. The first sentence of your esteemed note concludes with the statement
that the officials of the Persian Government have not advanced any argument
which would justify their action in cancelling the D'Arcy Concession, and that
His Britannic Majesty's Government must therefore reiterate their request for
the withdrawal of the said cancellation.
In reply to the sentence in question, I have to state that the Persian
Government have repeatedly pointed out the grounds for their dissatisfaction at
the oil company's behaviour, and did not, therefore, consider that it would be
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