'File 82/34 II (F 94) APOC Concession' [‎86r] (160/362)

i
THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY'S GOVERNMENT
if
%
CONFIDENTIAL. Oitt.-V>/ 3 3 - S ection 1.
[E 933/17/34] No. 1. ^ ^ ^
John Cadman to Captain Eden.—{Communicated hy Anglo-Persian
Oil Company, February 13.)
Dear Captain Eden, February 13, 1933.
THE Persians seem now to regard Dr. Benes's role as finished, and any
supervision of our negotiations as an interference on his part.
The following is a brief account of what has followed our last meeting on
the 3rd February :—
PERSIA. 1; r* — February 22, 1933.
On Saturday, the 4th February, our representatives in Geneva saw their
Excellencies Davar and Ala by invitation to discuss the procedure of negotiations.
We pressed the Persian representatives to have a complete draft of a new
concession prepared by qualified experts in Europe for discussion, but this
appeared to the Persians impracticable. They said that, before discussing any
draft, they wished the company to agree on certain points which they were going
to submit to the company, or to submit detailed counter-proposals. Our repre
sentatives agreed to wait for certain points under ten headings, and the same
night before leaving Geneva they received a list of those points.
We all met in London on the 6th February and came to the conclusion that
the Persian demands were not only extraordinary, but also extremely vague.
With all their vagueness, their effect was very much that of his Highness
Teymourtache's letter of the 1st April, 1931, with which Sir John Simon dealt
so ably in his speech at Geneva on the 26th January.
We decided to send our representatives to Paris to see their Excellencies
Davar and Ala (who had agreed in Geneva to meet us in Paris) and to try to
elucidate the demands of the Persian Government. The attempt at elucidation
lasted on Wednesday, the 8th, for five and a half hours. As a result of the
conversation of the Persian representatives with our representatives, the Persians
were quite unable themselves to elucidate, and admitted that the Tehran demands
were extremely vague, and suggested one of two alternatives : either that the
Persian Government should produce in Tehran a complete draft of a new
concession, say, in the course of the next six weeks, or that a draft should be
submitted by the company after further elucidation had been obtained by them
from the Persian Government by telegraph, which would be very difficult. Our
representatives said that they wished to report to London.
On Thursday, the 9th February, we came to the conclusion in London that, in
order to expedite matters, it would be better for the company to prepare a general
outline of a scheme for a new concession and send it to their Excellencies Davar
and Ala in Paris. We accordingly instructed our representatives to see their
Excellencies Davar and Ala on Friday and inform them of our intention.
Our representatives saw his Excellency Ala only on Friday, the 10th. His
Excellency Davar had a luncheon engagement. When his Excellency Ala was
informed of our decision, he stated that it would be just as well to transfer
everything to Tehran at once, as neither he nor his Excellency Davar had any
authority to discuss any scheme with us. He told our representatives that the
ten points '' above mentioned were produced only because M. Gulbenkian, who,
we understand, is on the staff of the Persian Legation in Paris, pressed them to
put before the company concrete proposals. According to his Excellency Ala
W
J
M. Gulbenkian strongly advised such proposals on the ground that I had
explained to him that without such proposals the company could not negotiate.
I cannot confirm his Excellency Ala's understanding of any conversation I had
with M. Gulbenkian. However, out of the three-quarters of an hour's conversa
tion with his Excellency Ala, about twenty minutes were spent in a discussion
with constant reference to M. Gulbenkian, of whom you may have heard.
On Saturday, the 11th, we received from our resident director (Mr. Jacks)
m Tehran a telegram stating that at the request of the Minister of Finance (his i!|||l
[719 y—1]