'File 82/17 I (F 90) A.P.O.C. Port of Basra and Shatt al-`Arab Water-way' [‎60r] (132/224)

This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.
PERSIA. May 7, 1928.
CONFIDENTIAL. Section 3.
[E 2390/2014/34] No. 1.
Sir F. Clive to Sir Austen Chamberlain.—{Received May 7.)
(No. 183.)
Sir, Tehran, April 20, 1928.
WITH reference to my despatch Xo. 178 of the 20th April, I have the honour to
inform you of the situation which has arisen regarding the visits of British warships
to Persian ports.
2. On the loth. April the resident director of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company
communicated to me a copy of a telegram which he had received from the Mohammerah.
office of the company informing him that H.M S. " Enterprise " proposed to visit
Abadan from the 16th to the 21st April, and that it was desired that the captain
should visit Maidan-i-Naftun with a party from the ship and that some of the crew
should land to play football. As the Persian authorities had shown a disposition to
raise objections in a previous similar case, it was suggested that the local authorities
should be instructed on this occasion to make no difficulties.
3. The company were anxious that for the sake of their own position the
proposed programme should be carried out, and, on the other hand, it appeared to me
that the Persian authorities would undoubtedly be within their legal rights—though
they have hitherto not tried to enforce them—in preventing the landing of anyone
from the ship without duly vise passports in the absence of the notice which, in the
case of other countries, it is customary to give when a British warship visits a foreign
port. \\ ith the Persian Government in its present temper and with the clear warning
of the previous objections, it seemed best to run no risks of an incident. I therefore
addressed, on the evening of the 15th April, an urgent private letter to the Acting
Minister for Foreign Affairs, informing him of the proposed visit and requesting that
the local authorities should be instructed by telegraph that there was no objection to
the proposed landing of the parties of officers and men of H.M.S. " Enterprise." My
request was in the end complied with, but with the usual Persian dilatoriness it was
not until the 19th April that 1 received the Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs' reply
(dated the 17th April), and it was not even then clearly stated that telegraphic
instructions had been given.
4. In the meanwhile H.M.S. " Enterprise " had arrived at Abadan, had anchored
in mid-stream to avoid conflict with the instructions given by the Persian Minister of
o */
Finance referred to in the first enclosure to my despatch mentioned above, and had
left on the 18th April for Basi-a. I was informed of this by the resident director
of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, w T ho expressed the hope that matters could be
arranged so that the ship could return to Abadan and the officers and men land as
originally proposed. I sent the oriental secretary to see the Acting Minister for
Foreign Affairs yesterday. He was full of explanations and apologies for the delay
which had occurred, and told Mr. Havard that he thought the permission for the
parties from H.M.S. " Enterprise" to land would hold good if she returned.
Mr. Havard said we must know for certain that the ship could tie up at the jetty at
Abadan, if required, and the parties land without incident. His Excellency promised
to see the Prime Minister this morning and to telephone the result to the Legation.
As no telephone message was received, I to-day addressed to the captain of the cruiser
the telegram repeated to you under No. 105. I have since showm the text to the
Minister of Court, wLo said he had no objections to raise. I trust, therefore, that the
bad impression which must, I fear, have been created by the incident will be removed
by the ship's return to Abadan and carrying out the landing programme.
5. It was not until I received this morning telegram No. 8 from His Majesty's
consul at Ahwaz, which 1 have repeated to you under No. 106, that I learnt of
a further serious feature of the matter—the sending of a customs launch to stop
H.M.S. " Enterprise" in mid-stream off the port of Abadan. I have the honour to
enclose a copy of the official protest which I am addressing to the Persian Government
on this point, as stated in my telegram No. 108 of to-day's date. I have taken this
opportunity of reaffirming the rights of Iraq over the waters of the Shatt-el-Arab up
to low-water mark on the Persian side, with the consequent corollary that ships may
[464 g—3]