Coll 30/24 'Persia and Persian Gulf, Persian Navy. Visits to Arab Ports' [‎323r] (654/908)

worth, the desirability of expanding m the following sense
the information which it is proposed to convey privately
to the Italian Government.
4. Two points are covered by the draft as it at
present stands: the special treats - + •
^ treaty relations between His
Majesty’s Government and the Arab rm^ ,
lu J-ers, and the Persian
claim i»o Bahnsin, ‘lamb and. Abu Mu^*
" a MUSa * Nothing is said of
the position at Han^am and Basidu and thi a m
* v.Tiu this may perhaps be
because the British claim to the Aatter) is weah, while the
^r is undisputed Persian territoV^ Yet the possibility
of some regrettable incident occurring at one or the other of
these two places cannot be overlooked, and while the Persian
Government are most unlikely to inform the Italian officers
of the assurances which they have given in regard to the
maintenance of the status quo, they will probably see to It
that the latter are made aware of the illegality of the
Henjam depot and the alleged illegality of the Basidu enceinte,
ihere would, I ieel, be no need, when approaching the Italian
Government, to enter into possibly embarrassing explanations
concerning the legal position at Henjam and Basidu; all
that would be necessary is an intimation to the effect that
His Majesty’s Ships have used these places for a very long
time past, that His Majesty’s Government have offered to
renounce their disputed claim to Basidu, and to regularise
Hy a lease the position at Henjam, as part of a general
treaty the negotiation of which, though temporarily suspended,
is already far advanced; and that pending the final settlement
of these questions — a settlement the broad outlines of which
have already been agreed upon — the Persian Government have
promised to observe the status quo.
A similar intimation might, I consider, be made with
advantage in regard to the relations between the Arab rulers
and/