IOR/L/PS/12/3420

Correspondence and other papers concerning the drafting of an agreement between the Governments of Britain and Persia [Iran], concerning the withdrawal of the Indo-European Telegraph Department from Persia, and the subsequent taking over of cables and equipment in Persia by the Persian Government. The agreement covers: the costs of daily use of the cables; maintenance of the cable between Henjam [Jazīreh-ye Hengām] and Bandar Abbas [Bandar-e ʻAbbās]; transit dues for communications sent between Iraq and India; access to Gulf ports by cable ships. The papers include:

• Multiple drafts of the agreement, in French. A printed copy of the final agreement in French and English translation, dated 17 February 1932, is included (ff 141-144).
• Correspondence concerning difficulties in maintaining an import of supplies to telegraph stations in Persia.
• Registration of the Imperial and International Communications Company Limited (IICC) in Persia.
• Discussion amongst British officials over the merits of abandoning cable communication in the Gulf, and closing down the telegraph stations on the Persian coast of the Gulf, in favour of using wireless communications.
• Correspondence from 1932 concerning the costs of repairs to the Henjam-Bandar Abbas cable, incurred by IICC/Cable & Wireless Limited, and charged against the Persian Government.

The volume’s principal correspondents are: the India Office (John Gilbert Laithwaite); the British Legation at Tehran (Robert Henry Clive; Charles Dodd; Reginald Hervey Hoare); the Indo-European Telegraph Department (Maurice George Simpson); the Indo-European Telegraph Company (which became the IICC, and from 1935, Cable & Wireless Limited (J O Stevens Perry; Ralph Lawson)).

The volume contains a single item in Persian (f 82), being an order issued by the Shah of Persia, dated 28 Khordad 1311 (equivalent to 18 June 1932), ratifying the Indo-European Telegraph Department agreement.