"F 80 ملف 82/34 I امتياز أ.ب.و.ك" [ظ‎‎٢‎٢‎٩] (٤٣٦/٤٠٣)

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I shall, of course, act in accordance with the provisions of article 15 of the
Covenant. If need be the members of the Council will, I am sure, help me in
carrying out my duties prescribed in article 15 with a view to a full investigation
and consideration of the matter.
SIR WILLIAM MALKIN : I have to express to the Council, on behalf of
Sir John Simon, his great regret that he has been prevented by indisposition
from coming to Geneva for to-day's meeting of the Council.
It is a matter of great satisfaction to His Majesty's Government in the
United Kingdom that the Council has been able to meet to-day to take cognisance
of the question which they have found it necessary to bring before it. His
Majesty's Government were anxious that the matter should come before the
Council without delay, because they felt that the situation resulting from the
action of the Persian Government in cancelling the concession held by the Anglo-
Persian Oil Company contained elements which required it to be dealt with by
the Council as a matter of urgency. Accordingly, I am grateful to you,
Mr. President, for the action which, as you have just informed the Council, you
and the Secretary-General with your assent have thought it proper to take; and
I trust that the result of that action will be to ensure that the matter will be
considered here in due course without the occurrence of any events which might
call for the immediate intervention of the Council.
On the merits of the dispute, it would, I conceive, be premature for me to
say anything at this stage; the case of His Majesty's Government is stated in
the memorandum which has been communicated to the Secretary-General in
accordance with article 15, paragraph 2 of the Covenant, and is in the hands of
the members of the Council.( 3 ) But, as you have stated, Mr. President, that the
matter will figure on the agenda of the meeting which opens on the 23rd January,
1933, I desire to express the earnest hope of my Government that the matter wili
be ready for consideration by the Council on that date. I recognise that the
Persian Government are entitled to a reasonable period for the preparation of
their case, but it will, I think, be agreed that His Majesty's Government have
not been dilatory in the preparation and presentation of their memorandum,
and as five weeks will elapse before the 23rd January, His Majesty's Government
may, I submit, fairly expect that the case of the Persian Government will reach
the Secretary-General in time to allow the Council to take the matter into
consideration at the session which opens on that date.
M. feEPAHBODI: Mr. President, at 8 p.m . on the 14th December I received
two letters from the Secretary-General communicating copies of the letter from
ms Lxcellency Sir John Simon and of the Foreign Office telegram These
documents informed me that His Britannic Majesty's Government had requested
an urgent meeting of the Council for the 19th or 20th December. The Foreign
Omce telegram stated that the United Kingdom Government's memorandum would
be communicated shortly I received the English text of the memorandum at
8 p.m . on the 16th December only. On receiving the first two letters I informed
my Government of the subject of the request of His Britannic Majestv's Govern
ment. A summary of the memorandum, which contains twenty-four paffes was
also telegraphed to my Government at midnight on the day on which it was
received. My Government therefore is not yet in possession of the necessary
particulars and has not had time to form a complete and exact idea of the reasons
tor which His Britannic Majesty's Government has seen fit to invoke article 15
ot the Covenant m connexion with a dispute between Persia and the Anglo-
Persian Oil Company. &
At midday on the 17th December I received a telegram( 4 ) from my Govern
ment the contents of which I duly communicated to the Secretary-General the
same day. Ihis communication has been circulated to the members of the Council
but it would, I think, be advisable that I should read part of it here
. " we are not yet in possessioii of the request addressed to the Council
i ^ r ^ an - nic Majesty s Government We are not aware in what manner
and on what bases the Council has been a^ked to deal with this question.
We cannot therefore come to any decision in the matter. The Persian
Government had already decided to notify the Council of the intimidating—
it might almost be said threatening—attitude which His Britannic Majesty's
( 3 ) Document C.84U932 .Vir. (*) Document 0.844.1932.VII (see Annex 1).