IOR/R/15/2/85

The file concerns Persian claims to Bahrain (also spelled Bahrein).

The correspondence is mainly between the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf and the Political Agent, Bahrain. There is also correspondence from Charles Dalrymple Belgrave, Adviser to the Government of Bahrain. Enclosures to correspondence from the Political Resident include copies of correspondence from the Government of India, the Colonial Office, the Foreign Office, the India Office, other British officials in the region (particularly the British Legation, Tehran), and officials of the Government of Persia. Enclosures to correspondence from the Political Agent, Bahrain include copies of correspondence from persons in official positions in Bahrain.

The main topics covered in the papers are:

• reports by the Political Agent;
• the decision of the Persian Government to refer the dispute to the League of Nations, in the light of the reference to Britain's 'special treaty relations' (folio 11) with Bahrain in the Treaty of Jeddah (1927);
• discussion by the British Government of the desirability of a Treaty of Protection with Bahrain (folios 33-35);
• the nature and historical basis of the claims made by the Persian Government and the British response to those claims;
• the Persian School at Bahrain;
• the use of Persian passports and passes (Ilm-o-Khabar) in Bahrain, and the decision of the Shaikh of Bahrain to order all Persians wishing to enter Bahrain to carry passports (folios 199-206);
• pro-Persian propaganda in Bahrain and support for a return to Persian rule;
• support for the Persian claim to Bahrain in the Persian press (including a letter from an anonymous inhabitant of Bahrain, folios 101-103);
• the involvement in the dispute of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), following a speech by the Soviet Ambassador to Tehran (folios 112-116);
• status of the central Gulf islands of Arabi, Farsi, Qran and Harqus (folios 179-182);
• the history of Persian claims to sovereignty over Bahrain;
• the involvement in the dispute of the Bahrain ruling family;
• the treatment of Bahraini subjects in Persia, and the question of the protection of their interests by the British (e.g. folios 288-295 and 302-304).

The French content of the file consists of a letter in that language from F Pakrevan (Persian Ministry of Foreign Affairs). The Arabic content of the file is contained in less than twelve separate folios of sundry correspondence, including correspondence sent by the Political Agency to the Adviser to the Government of Bahrain and the Deputy Ruler of Bahrain.

The date range indicates the main, chronological run of correspondence in the file; however, the earliest document is an enclosure to the first letter dated 22 November 1927 (folio 11), and the last letter bears a Bahrain Agency receipt stamp dated 24 December [1930] (folio 305).