IOR/L/PS/12/3885

The file concerns the detention of a Bahrain dhow at Khoramshahr [Khorramshahr] under standing instructions issued by the Iranian Government (generally referred to as Persia). The nakhuda of the dhow was forced to hand over his vessel's registration documents to the Iranian naval authorities in exchange for Iranian Government registration papers. The incident is said in the file to be connected with the issuing by the state of Bahrain of nationality and property laws, and with the Iranian Government's claim to sovereignty over Bahrain.

The incident is discussed in correspondence from the Acting Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, the British Minister at Tehran (Sir Horace James Seymour), and the Foreign Office, as well as in India Office minutes, and resulted in the issuing of a protest by the British Government to the Government of Iran (folios 12-13), at the request of the Ruler of Bahrain, Shaikh Sir Hamad bin Isa Alkhalifah [Ḥamad bin ‘Īsá Āl Khalīfah]. The Iranian Government in response asserted that Bahrain was an inalienable part of Iran (folio 9), and the Foreign Office decided to take no further action.

There are no papers in the file dated 1939-40; folios 2-3 record a similar incident from 1941.

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.