IOR/L/PS/12/3711

This volume contains correspondence between British officials regarding negotiations with the Governments of Iraq and Persia to establish a board to improve and maintain the conservancy of the Shatt el-Arab [Shatt al-Arab] waterway.

The primary correspondents in the file are officials from the Admiralty, the Political Residency in the Persian Gulf, the High Commission in Iraq, the Foreign Office, the Colonial Office and the Air Ministry.

In addition to correspondence, the file also contains several iterations of a draft of a tri-partite agreement between Britain, Iraq and Persia to set up a 'board to improve and maintain the conservancy of the Shatt el-Arab' and minutes from a series of meetings concerning the content and wording of this agreement that were held at the Colonial Office in London. These meetings were attended by representatives of the Colonial Office, Treasury, Foreign Office, Admiralty, Air Ministry, India Office and the Board of Trade.

The file also contains accounts of negotiations that took place between British officials and Persia's First Minister, Abdolhossein Teymourtash (written as Teymourtache in the file). A telegram in French that was sent by Teymourtash to Francis Humphrys, Britain's High Commissioner in Iraq in April 1932 can be found on folio 106.

Also enclosed in the file is a draft of a 'Treaty of Residence and Neighbourly Relations' between Iraq and Persia (folios 400-402). This copy is in English, translated from the original Arabic.

The file includes a divider, which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.