مجموعة ٣٠/٩٠ "المطالبة الفارسية بجزيرة البحرين" [و‎‎٤‎٠‎٣] (١٠٦٢/٨١٨)

PERSIA
3
11. I have accordingly the honour to request you to take the enclosed papers
into your consideration, and to advise, in the light of the facts stated in the
historical memorandum (Paper A), the various arguments which have been
employed on either side in the course of the discussion of this question, and of
any other considerations which may appear to you to be relevant, whether, in
your opinion, Persia possesses any rights in or over Bahrein, and if so what the
nature of those rights is.
12. The question of the future policy of His Majesty’s Government in regard
to Persia, as to which the Ministerial Middle East Sub-Committee may have to
take important decisions at any moment, may be to a considerable extent dependent
upon the nature of your opinion on the above point, and Sir John Simon would
therefore be grateful if it were possible for you 'to furnish your opinion at a very
early date.
I have. &c.
G. W. RENDEL.
List of Papers.
(A) Historical memorandum prepared by India Office.
(B) Notes exchanged with Persian Government between 1927 and 1929.
(C) Letter from Persian Minister for Foreign Affairs to Secretary-General of the League of
Nations, dated the 13th January, 1929, communicating copy of note to His Majesty’s Minister
at Tehran.
(E>) Copy of letter from Persian Minister for Foreign Affairs to Secretary-General of the
League of Nations, dated the 17th January, 1930.
(E) Copy of letter from Persian Minister for Foreign Affairs to Secretary-General of the
League of Nations, dated the 24th July, 1930, enclosing copy of note to His Majesty’s Minister
at Tehran, dated the 23rd July, 1930.
(F) Letter from M. Sepahbodi, Persian representative to the League of Nations, to
Secretary-General of the League of Nations, dated the 14th October, 1932.
(G) Letter from Secretary-General of the League of Nations, dated the 12th June, 1934,
communicating copy of note from Persian Minister for Foreign Affairs to United States Minister
at Tehran, dated the 22nd May, 1934.
(H) Two circular letters "from the Director of the International Bureau of the Universal
Postal Union, dated the 26th January, 1938, and the 20th April, 1933, communicating a protest
from the Persian postal authorities and the reply of the Indian postal authorities respectively.
Report.
The Persian claim to sovereignty over Bahrein appears to be based upon the
view that from time immemorial the islands were Persian territory, and that by
virtue of the fact that Persia has never expressly recognised their independence,
coupled with various assertions of sovereign right on the part of Persia, and of
admissions from time to time of the Persian claims on the part of the rulers of
Bahrein and of His Majesty’s Government, Persian sovereignty has never been
lost.
The facts as narrated in the historical memorandum prepared by the India
Office do not, in our opinion, support this view. There is no satisfactory evidence
of any kind that at any date before 1783 Bahrein was incorporated in Persian
territory. The most that can be said is that there was a period of Persian
occupation at the beginning of the 17th century, and that for a short period in
the 18th century a de facto control was exercised by a Persian Governor.
Whether this control ever acquired the character of de jure sovereignty may be
doubted, but, in our opinion, the expulsion of the Persian garrison in 1783 never
to return makes it impossible to rely upon what had happened before that event.
The later history of Persian claims to sovereignty over the islands affords no
evidence of any recognition either by His Majesty’s Government or by any other
sovereign power of Bahrein as Persian soil. The Bruce Treaty of 1822 cannot
be relied on, while the three treaties of 1809, 1814 and 1857 appear to us to be
wholly silent as to Persian rights over Bahrein. The British note of 1869 is the
high-water mark of any admission of Persian rights. Even this note, however,
falls far short of a recognition of sovereignty, and nothing said or done thereafter
gives any support to Persian claims.