IOR/L/PS/18/B410

Memorandum outlining developments in the suppression of the trade in arms in the Persian Gulf from 1908-28.

Covering:

• introduction to arms traffic in Muscat, and the reduction in arms traffic in the Gulf as a whole;
• treaty engagements, etc., of states bordering on the Persian Gulf – including Persia, Bahrein [Bahrain], Koweit [Kuwait], the Trucial Coast, Turkey, and Muscat;
• the Arms Traffic Convention of 1919 and 1925 – the effect of the First World War, and objections of Persia to being classified as a prohibited area for the purpose of arms traffic;
• arms traffic in the Gulf, 1908-1919 – the suppression of arms traffic from Muscat in 1912, and agreements with Ibn Saud [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd];
• arms traffic in the Gulf, 1919-1928 – conference held at Karachi in August 1921 concerning the danger of revival in the arms trade, and recommendations to combat this;
• summary.

Written by John Gilbert Laithwaite of the India Office.