IOR/L/PS/9/68/220

Translation of the answer of the ministers of the Court of the Shah of Persia [Iran], dated 27 December 1819, to the official note of HM Chargé d'Affaires to Persia, Henry Willock, of 23 December 1819 (see IOR/L/PS/9/68/214). The note concerns the British intention of including ports on the Persian coast as targets in their planned expedition to the Persian Gulf to attack the Juwasemees [al-Qawasim] and their allies, who are accused by the British of piracy (see IOR/L/PS/9/68/213). The note denies the right of the British expedition to take offensive action against ports on the Persian coast on the grounds that they are under the jurisdiction of the Prince of Sheraz [Shiraz], Hussein Ali Mirza [Ḥusayn ‘Alī Mirzā Farmānfarmā], and expresses opposition to Willock’s suggestion that protection might be afforded by the Prince of Fars [Prince of Shiraz] to those accused of piracy. The note is sealed by Hadjee Mohammed Hussein Khan [Ḥājī Muḥammad Ḥusayn Khān Iṣfahānī, Niẓām al-Dawlah], Sudr Aazim [Ṣadr-i Aʿẓam, Prime Minister], and Mirza Abdul Wahab [Mīrzā ‘Abd al-Wahhāb Nishāṭ Iṣfahānī], Moatemed ed Dowleh [Mu‘tamid al-Dawlah, Foreign Minister].

The translation was enclosed in Willock’s letter to Major-General Sir William Grant Keir, of 29 December 1819 (see IOR/L/PS/9/68/219).