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Iran: The British Successor in the Gulf?

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The End of Pax Britannica in the Persian Gulf, 1968-1971

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Abstract

The Shah and King Faysal appeared to turn the corner in their relationship as a result of the Shah’s state visit to Saudi Arabia in 1968. This visit created a significant change in the Iranian perception of the Saudis as a potential partner in the Gulf, particularly for Mohammad Reza Shah and his Foreign Minister Ardeshir Zahedi. While King Faysal may have felt differently, the November 1968 visit played a big part in Iran’s declaration that it would not use violence to pursue its claim on Bahrain. However, Iran’s muscle-flexing confrontation with Iraq over the Shatt al-Arab in the Spring of 1969 revived the fear in Saudi Arabia that it would find itself caught between revolutionary Arab nationalism and imperial Iranian nationalism.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Tehran Journal, 6 January 1969 in BNA: Tehran to Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Telegram No. 18, 6 January 1969, FCO 8/939.

  2. 2.

    BNA: Tehran to Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 6 January 1969, Telegram No. 21, FCO 8/939.

  3. 3.

    Kayhan International, 6 January 1968; BNA: Tehran to Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 6 January 1969, Telegram No. 21, FCO 8/939.

  4. 4.

    BNA: Bahrain to Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 8 January, Telegram No. 8, FCO 8/939; Bahrain to Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 6 January 1968, Telegram No. 6, FCO 8/939.

  5. 5.

    BNA: Bahrain to Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 11 December 1968, FCO 8/938.

  6. 6.

    BNA: UK Mission New York to Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 16 December 1968, Tel. No. 3313, FCO 8/939; Bunche was referring to United Nations Yemen Observation Mission (UNYOM), see, U Thant’s report to the U.N. Security Council S/5298 of 29 April 1963, and http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/missions/past/unyombackgr.html

  7. 7.

    BNA: Bahrain to Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 16 December 1968, FCO 8/939.

  8. 8.

    BNA: Kuwait to Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 29 December 1968, FCO 8/939.

  9. 9.

    U.S. Department of State Telegram, Tehran to Washington, 29 January 1969, Tehran 00363 291118Z, RG 59.

  10. 10.

    U.S. Department of State Memorandum, “Bahrain Negotiations,” William D. Brewer to Joseph Sisco, 10 March 1969, RG 59.

  11. 11.

    BNA: Kuwait to Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 8 January 1969, Telegram No. 12, FCO 8/939, RG 59.

  12. 12.

    U.S. Department of State Telegram, Tehran to Washington, 17 January 1969, Tehran 00222 171942Z, RG 59.

  13. 13.

    U.S. Department of State Memorandum, “Bahrain Negotiations,” William D. Brewer to Joseph Sisco, 10 March 1969, R 59.

  14. 14.

    Alvandi maintains this was exclusively an Iranian approach to the Secretary-General’s office; see: Alvandi, p. 170.

  15. 15.

    U.S. Department of State Memorandum, “Bahrain Negotiations,” William D. Brewer to Joseph Sisco, 10 March 1969, R 59.

  16. 16.

    BNA: Acland to Brighty, “Bilateral Talks with the United States Secretary State, The Gulf, Additional Note on Talking Points,” 22 May 1969, FCO 8/958.

  17. 17.

    BNA: Tehran to Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Wiggin to Acland, 29 January 1969, FCO 8/960/1.

  18. 18.

    Salim al-Lawzi, Rasasatan fi-l-Khalij [Two Bullets in the Gulf] (Beirut, Lebanon: 1971), p. 87.

  19. 19.

    Iran’s head of domestic security and intelligence service, SAVAK (Sazeman-e Ettela’at va Amniyat-e Keshvar, or “National Organization for Security and Intelligence”).

  20. 20.

    BNA: Dubai to Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 7 January 1969, FCO 8/960/1.

  21. 21.

    BNA: Dubai to Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 7 January 1969, FCO 8/960/1.

  22. 22.

    British National Archives: Dubai to Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 18 February 1969, FCO 9/960/1.

  23. 23.

    British National Archives: Foreign and Commonwealth Office to Tehran, Makinson to Wiggin, 14 February 1969, FO 248/1690; MEES, Vol. XII, No. 12, 17 January 1969.

  24. 24.

    British National Archives: Foreign and Commonwealth Office to Tehran, Wiggin to Acland, 30 January 1969, FO 248/1690; and, Foreign and Commonwealth Office to Tehran, Makinson to Wiggin, 14 February 1969, FO 248/1690.

  25. 25.

    It is important to point out that several accounts of this conversation from Iranian officials, including the head of SAVAK, exist in the British archives, but they are considerably less detailed and characterize the conversation in much more convivial terms. Given the fact that Shaykh Khalid’s account of these events is more consistent with how Farazian’s behavior was depicted in separate conversations with the shaykhs of Ras al-Khaimah, Shaykh Khalid of Sharjah’s account is given more evidentiary weight in this narrative.

  26. 26.

    British National Archives: Dubai to Bahrain, Bullard to Weir, 2 April 1969, FCO 8/960/1.

  27. 27.

    BNA: Dubai to Bahrain, 2 April 1969, Telegram No. 97, FCO 8/960/1; and, Dubai to Bahrain, Bullard to Weir, 2 April 1969, FCO 8/960/1.

  28. 28.

    BNA: “Minutes of a meeting with Mr. P.T. Hayman, Deputy Undersecretary of F.C.O.,” 25 May 1969, FCO 8/958.

  29. 29.

    BNA: Bahrain to Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 12 April 1969, FO 1056/756.

  30. 30.

    BNA: Tehran to Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Wright to Arthur, 9 April 1969, FO 1056/756.

  31. 31.

    BNA: Abu Dhabi to Bahrain, 5 April 1969, Telegram No. 127, FO 1056/756; and, Bahrain to Foreign Office, Crawford to McCarthy, 9 April 1969, FO 1056/756.

  32. 32.

    BNA: Dubai to Bahrain, “Mr Heath’s Visit,” 5 April 1969, FO 1056/756.

  33. 33.

    BNA: Doha to Bahrain, 8 April 1969, FO 1056/756, and, Bahrain Political Agent (Stirling) to Bahrain Political Resident (Crawford), 13 April 1969, FO 1056/756.

  34. 34.

    BNA: Jedda to Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 8 April 1969, Telegram No. 174, FO 1056/756; and, Jedda to Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Morris to McCarthy, 9 April 1969, FO 1056/756.

  35. 35.

    al-Thawra, 16 and 18 April 1969.

  36. 36.

    The Times (London), 27 April 1969.

  37. 37.

    BNA: Kuwait to Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Falle to McCarthy, 15 April 1969; FO 1056/756.

  38. 38.

    BNA: Kuwait to Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 8 April 1969, FO 1056/756.

  39. 39.

    BNA: “ Abu Dhabi-Qatar seabed boundary,” Foreign and Commonwealth Office to Jedda, 23 April 1969, Telegram No. 128, FCO 8/956.

  40. 40.

    Richard Schofield, “The Crystallisation of a Complex Territorial Dispute: Britain and the Saudi-Abu Dhabi Borderland, 1966–71,” Journal of Arabian Studies 1:1 (2011), 27–51; J.B. Kelly, Arabia the Gulf and the West (New York: Basic Books, Inc., 1980), p. 56.

  41. 41.

    Richard Schofield, “The Crystallisation of a Complex Territorial Dispute: Britain and the Saudi-Abu Dhabi Borderland, 1966–71,” Journal of Arabian Studies 1:1 (2011), 27–51; Hussein M. Baharna, The Arabian Gulf States: Their legal and political status and their international problems (Beirut: Librairie du Liban, 2nd edition, 1975) p. 224.

  42. 42.

    Richard Schofield, “The Crystallisation of a Complex Territorial Dispute: Britain and the Saudi-Abu Dhabi Borderland, 1966–71,” Journal of Arabian Studies 1:1 (2011), 27–51;Baharna, pp. 200–201.

  43. 43.

    Richard Schofield, “The Crystallisation of a Complex Territorial Dispute: Britain and the Saudi-Abu Dhabi Borderland, 1966–71,” Journal of Arabian Studies 1:1 (2011), 27–51; Baharna, p. 263; BNA: “The Frontiers between Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi,” Middle East Section—Research Department, 16 April 1969, FCO 8/956.

  44. 44.

    U.S. Department of State Airgram, Dhahran to Washington, 2 April 1969, A-56, RG 59; and, MEES, Vol. XII, No. 21, 21 March 1969.

  45. 45.

    This agreement transferred the rights of an offshore oil field from Abu Dhabi to Dubai. See: U.S. Department of State Telegram, 20 April 1969, Dhahran to Washington, Dhahra 00340 200506Z.

  46. 46.

    BNA: “The Frontiers between Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi,” Middle East Section—Research Department, 16 April 1969, FCO 8/956.

  47. 47.

    Richard Schofield, “The Crystallisation of a Complex Territorial Dispute: Britain and the Saudi-Abu Dhabi Borderland, 1966–71,” Journal of Arabian Studies 1:1 (2011), 27–51.

  48. 48.

    Salim al-Lawzi, Rasasatan fi-l-Khalij [Two Bullets in the Gulf] (Beirut, Lebanon: 1971), pp. 49–50.

  49. 49.

    Kelly, p. 74.

  50. 50.

    BNA: “Saudi Arabia and the Gulf,” Jedda to Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Morris to McCarthy, 16 January 1969, FCO 8/956.

  51. 51.

    Salim al-Lawzi, Rasasatan fi-l-Khalij [Two Bullets in the Gulf] (Beirut, Lebanon: 1971), p. 51.

  52. 52.

    BNA: “Qatar/Abu Dhabi boundary,” Jedda to Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 11 April 1969, Telegram No. 177, FCO 8/956.

  53. 53.

    U.S. Department of State Telegram, 20 April 1969, Dhahran to Washington, Dhahra 00340 200506Z, RG 59.

  54. 54.

    U.S Department of State Telegram, Dhahran to Washington, 28 February 1969, Dhahra 00190 01100 1Z, RG 59.

  55. 55.

    U.S. Department of State Telegram, Dhahran to Washington, 5 February 1969, Dhahra 00115 051136Z, RG 59.

  56. 56.

    U.S. Department of State Telegram, 20 April 1969, Dhahran to Washington, Dhahra 00340 200506Z, RG 59.

  57. 57.

    Taryam, p. 118; and, for a draft copy of the agenda items in English, see: U.S. Department of State Telegram, Dhahran to Washington, 10 May 1969, Dhahra 00401 101110Z, RG 59.

  58. 58.

    Salim al-Lawzi, Rasasatan fi-l-Khalij [Two Bullets in the Gulf] (Beirut, Lebanon: 1971), p. 68; Taryam, pp. 120–121.

  59. 59.

    U.S. Department of State Telegram, Dhahran to Washington, 30 April 1969, Dhahra 00375 300 944Z, RG 59.

  60. 60.

    Dr. Wahid Raʾfat was appointed to lead the effort to draft the provisional constitution, replacing Dr. Sanhuri, who was in ill health and died shortly thereafter.

  61. 61.

    Taryam, pp. 122–123.

  62. 62.

    Salim al-Lawzi, Rasasatan fi-l-Khalij [Two Bullets in the Gulf] (Beirut, Lebanon: 1971), p. 68.

  63. 63.

    See, Taryam, pp. 127–129.

  64. 64.

    U.S. Department of State Airgram, Dhahran to Washington, 26 March 1969, A-53, RG59.

  65. 65.

    Smith, pp. 92–93; Salim al-Lawzi, Rasasatan fi-l-Khalij [Two Bullets in the Gulf] (Beirut, Lebanon: 1971), p. 68.

  66. 66.

    Smith, pp. 93–94.

  67. 67.

    Taryam, p. 118.

  68. 68.

    U.S. Department of State Telegram, Jidda to Washington, 20 May 1969, Jidda 01695 200936Z, RG 59.

  69. 69.

    al-Raʿy al-ʿAam, 19 May 1969; Taryam, p. 118 & 128; Salim al-Lawzi, Rasasatan fi-l-Khalij [Two Bullets in the Gulf] (Beirut, Lebanon: 1971), p. 40.

  70. 70.

    BNA: Baghdad to Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 9 April 1969, Telegram No. 350, FCO 17/879.

  71. 71.

    BNA: Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Hinchecliffe to Acland, 11 April 1969, FCO 17/879.

  72. 72.

    BNA: Baghdad to Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 23 April 1969, Telegram No. 390, FCO 17/879.

  73. 73.

    On 1 April 1969, Iran severed diplomatic relations with Lebanon, because Lebanon had declined to extradite former Iranian SAVAK chief Teymour Bakhtiar to Iran. Bakhtiar had plotted to overthrow the Shah. Bakhtiar’s prison term for arms smuggling in Lebanon had expired in January 1969, and on 3 April 1969 he traveled from Beirut to Switzerland and received political asylum. Later in the year he arrived in Iraq, where he continued to plot against the Shah. For more details, see: Abbas Milani, The Shah (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011).

  74. 74.

    BNA: Tehran to Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 20 April 1969, Telegram No. 341, FCO 17/879; and Echo of Iran, Vol. XVII, No. 4, 1969; See, also: Shahram Chubin and Sepehr Zabih, The Foreign Relations of Iran (Berkeley and Los Angeles, University of California Press, 1974), p. 185.

  75. 75.

    Asadollah Alam, The Shah and I (London and New York: I.B. Tauris, 1991), edited and translated by Alinagh Alikhani and Nicholas Vincent, pp. 53.

  76. 76.

    U.S. Department of State Telegram, Tehran to Washington, 20 April 1969, Tehran 01399 210138Z, RG 59.

  77. 77.

    Asadollah Alam, The Shah and I (London and New York: I.B. Tauris, 1991), edited and translated by Alinagh Alikhani and Nicholas Vincent, pp. 53.

  78. 78.

    Asadollah Alam, The Shah and I (London and New York: I.B. Tauris, 1991), edited and translated by Alinagh Alikhani and Nicholas Vincent, pp. 53; and, British National Archives:

  79. 79.

    Asadollah Alam, The Shah and I (London and New York: I.B. Tauris, 1991), edited and translated by Alinagh Alikhani and Nicholas Vincent, pp. 53.

  80. 80.

    BNA: “Shatt al-Arab dispute between Iran and Iraq,” Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 24 April 1969, FCO 17/879.

  81. 81.

    U.S. Department of State Intelligence Note, “Iran-Iraq: Dispute over the Shatt al-Arab disturbs relations periodically,” Thomas L. Hughes, 22 April 1969, RG 59.

  82. 82.

    BNA: Tehran to Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 20 April 1969, Telegram No. 341, FCO 17/879.

  83. 83.

    BNA: Baghdad to Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 21 April 1969, Telegram No. 378, FCO 17/879.

  84. 84.

    BNA: Baghdad to Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 23 April 1969, Telegram No. 390, FCO 17/879.

  85. 85.

    al-Raʿy al-ʿAam, 7 and 8 April 1969.

  86. 86.

    U.S. Department of State Telegram, London to Washington, 1 May 1969, London 03404 011819Z, RG 59.

  87. 87.

    BNA: Baghdad to Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 29 April 1969, Telegram No. 410, FCO 17/879; and, U.S. Department of State Telegram, Tehran to Washington, 22 April 1969, Tehran 01444 221425Z, RG59.

  88. 88.

    BNA: Tehran to Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 26 April 1969, Telegram No. 362, FCO 17/879; and U.S. Department of State Telegram, Tehran to Washington, 22 April 1969, Tehran 01444 221425Z, RG59; and, U.S. Department of State Telegram, Tehran to Washington, 21 April 1969, Tehran 01416 211301Z, RG 59.

  89. 89.

    Haim Shemesh, Soviet-Iraqi Relations, 1968–1988: In the Shadow of the Iraq-Iran Conflict (Boulder & Colorado: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1992), pp. 28–29.

  90. 90.

    Ibid., p. 29.

  91. 91.

    BNA: UK-Mission to New York to Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 30 April 1969, Telegram No. 827, FCO 17/879; and, U.S. Department of State Telegram, US UN Mission New York to Washington, 30 April 1969, US US N 01268 302225Z, RG 59.

  92. 92.

    Shemesh, p. 35.

  93. 93.

    Shemesh, p. 31.

  94. 94.

    Shemesh, p. 45.

  95. 95.

    Ofra Bengio, The Kurds of Iraq: Building a State Within a State (Boulder and London: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2012), p. 30.

  96. 96.

    Shahram Chubin and Sepehr Zabih, The Foreign Relations of Iran (Berkeley and Los Angeles, University of California Press, 1974), p. 185.

  97. 97.

    U.S. Department of State Telegram. Jidda to Washington, 3 April 1969, Jidda 01112 031138Z, RG 59.

  98. 98.

    BNA: Foreign and Commonwealth Department, Arthur to McCarthy, 23 April 1969, FCO 17/879.

  99. 99.

    U.S. Department of State Telegram, Jidda to Washington, 3 April 1969, Jidda 01120 031521Z, RG 59.

  100. 100.

    U.S. Department of State Telegram. Jidda to Washington, 3 April 1969, Jidda 01112 031138Z, RG 59.

  101. 101.

    Ayandegan, 14 June 1969—in Echo of Iran, Vol. XVII, No. 130.

  102. 102.

    Winston Churchill, The Times (London), 10 June 1969.

  103. 103.

    BNA: “The Shah’s Visit to the United States for Mr. Eisenhower’s Funeral,” British Embassy Washington D.C. to Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 10 April 1969, FCO 8/955.

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  1. The Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies (MDC), Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Brandon Friedman

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Friedman, B. (2020). Iran: The British Successor in the Gulf?. In: The End of Pax Britannica in the Persian Gulf, 1968-1971. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56182-6_4

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