IOR/R/15/5/174

This file concerns Britain's relations with Persia (also referred to as Iran in some of the correspondence). It includes the following:

• cases of Persian customs authorities reportedly inhibiting (and in some cases preventing altogether) the passage of persons travelling between Persia and Kuwait, allegedly because of the Persian Government's claim that Kuwait is part of Persian territory;
• a copy of a non-aggression clause, written in 1930 and taken from a draft of a proposed treaty between Britain and Persia;
• copies of correspondence between the India Office and the Foreign Office regarding whether or not the rulers of Muscat, Bahrain, and Kuwait should cancel their respective existing proclamations that give Persian vessels rights to inspect Arab dhows outside Persian territorial waters;
• a copy of a draft of Iran's 1942 treaty of alliance with Britain and the Soviet Union;
• copies of correspondence dating from 1934 between the British Legation, Tehran, and the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs [Sir John Simon], regarding Britain's response to the Persian Government's refusal to recognise certain agreements between Britain and the Arab rulers of the Gulf, which give Britain the right to represent the latter in their foreign relations.

Other subjects of correspondence include the anticipated revision in (1947) of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company's concession of 1933 and the presence of Iranian Airways in Kuwait.

The principal correspondents are the following: the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf; the Political Agent, Kuwait; the Secretary of State for India; the British Legation, Tehran; the India Office; the Foreign Office; the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs; the Commonwealth Relations Office; the Ruler of Kuwait, Shaikh Ahmad al-Jabir as-Sabah [Shaikh Aḥmad al-Jābir Āl Ṣabāḥ].