IOR/L/PS/12/2182

The volume consists of extensive correspondence, plus minutes and memoranda, relating to the 1925 Convention for the Supervision of the International Trade in Arms and Ammunition and in Implements of War (Arms Traffic Convention), and the subsequent attempts to reproduce certain of its provisions in an international covenant at the Geneva Disarmament Conference of 1932-1933.

The principal correspondents are: the Government of India Foreign and Political Department; the India Office Political Department; the Admiralty; the Foreign Office; HM Minister at Tehran (R H Hoare); the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf; and the UK Delegate to the Disarmament Conference (E H Carr). The volume also contains a number of communications received from members of the Persian Government (Muhammad Ali Foroughi [Furūghī], Abdolhossein Teymourtache, and Anoushirvan Khan Sepahbodi).

The material principally concerns negotiations between the Persian [Iranian] and British Governments. The Persian Government wished to have the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman excluded from the list of special maritime zones, and sought British support in achieving this at the Conference. In response to British concerns about the possible impact on their ability to effectively limit the transport of arms and slaves in the region, the Persian Government proposed a bilateral Anglo-Persian treaty.

The following topics are discussed in depth:

• general Anglo-Persian relations, and the British desire to make progress with regards to the position of Henjam;
• the traffic in arms and slaves in the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Oman, and the Red Sea;
• the reluctance of several nations to ratify the 1925 Arms Traffic Convention;
• the definition and designation of 'special zones', 'special maritime zones' and 'native vessels' within the proposed conventions;
• the proposed bilateral treaty, its terms and conditions;
• the rights to inspect foreign vessels in the Persian Gulf, and British concerns over the ability of Persia to inspect British, Indian and Gulf vessels;
• the possibility of enabling other nations to accede to the bilateral treaty separately, to enable British inspection of the vessels of other nations within the Persian Gulf;
• and the concerns of the Admiralty over the potential impact that the agreement would have on their ability to police the traffic in arms and slaves.

The following are particular items of interest:

• memorandum of the Persian Delegation to the League of Nations, noting their objections to the Arms Traffic Convention, ff 517-522;
• communication from HM Legation to Tehran, enclosing details of an interview with the Persian Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for the Court (Foroughi and Teymourtache), ff 492-500;
• minutes of the Interdepartmental Cabinet Committee on the International Disarmament Conference, ff 394-420;
• details of a meeting between the Foreign Office and the Persian Minister to Switzerland (Sepahbodi), ff 185-192;
• Persian Government aide-mémoire on the progress of the negotiations, ff 121-124.

The volume includes a divider which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the volume by year. This is placed at the end of the correspondence (folio 1).