CONFIDENTIAL Mr. Teimur again asked whether the British side were notprepared to start with the Tunbs and Ras al-Khaimah, and thenfrom Qatar at the other end, Mr. Brenchley pointed out thatthey had already tried to start from Qatar. Dr. Movahed saidthat the Iranians wished to start from both ends, Mr. Brenchley asked low it had been possible to reachagreement with Saudi Arabia if it was not possible with Qatarand Abu Dhabi, Mr. Teimur explained that the problem was toknow what to say iſ asked why they had stopped short at Sirri,Mr. Brenchley suggested that they should give Abu Musa as thereason, Abu Musa affected the Dubai continental shelf.Mr, Teimur said that it was necessary for them to know theboundaries of the continental shelves of the different states.Mr. Brenchley explained that some of these boundaries had notbeen finally fixed. Mr. Teimur asked whether the Abu Dhabi/Dubai boundary was agreed, Mr. Brenchley replied that it hadbeen accepted in writing by Abu Dhabi but not yet by Dubai,Mr, Teimur asked where this boundary was. Mr. Brenchley saidthat this was all covered in Mr. Weir's letter to Mr, Zelli,The exact co-ordinates could be put in if the draft was agreedin principle. Mr. Teimur said that it was clear that theycould make no further progress. Mr. Brenchley asked why theIranians could not point to Abu Musa as the reason for confiningthe Agreement to Qatar and Abu Dhabi, Mr. Teimur said that itwas too far away. Mr. Brenchley explained that the ContinentalShelves of Dubai and Sharjah were both affected by Abu Musa.Mr. Weir added that Abu Dhabi was the last state whose ContinentalShelf was not affected by the disputed islands, Mr. Teimurasked why it was necessary to start with Qatar and Abu Dhabirather than with Ras al-Khaimah, Mr. Brenchley explained thatthe obvious reason was that they could make a start with Qatarand Abu Dhabi there and then. He asked however whether theIranian Government wished Her Majesty's Government to ask theRuler of Ras al-Khaimah to discuss the sovereignty of the Tunbs.Mr. Teimur said that they did. They wished also to considerAbu Musa which was likewise unlawfully occupied. Mr. Brenchleysaid that Her Majesty's Government could only agree to discussAbu Musa if Sirri was also to be discussed. He again asked whythey could not deal with the Qatar and Abu Dhabi sector straightaway. Mr. Teimur explained that iſ they could say to theirParliament that they had started from both ends in order tolimit the area of conflict, this would be accepted as reasonable,Mr. Brenchley remarked that the Iranians had been faced with asimilar problem over Bahrain in their discussions with Saudi.Arabia. Dr. Naficy denied this. They had stopped short ofBahrain, Mr. Brenchley argued that the position was the same inthis case, They were to stop short of Sirri, Dr. Naſicyasked whether Shakhbut, the so-called Shaikh of the so-calledstate of Abu Dhabi, was a Ruler. Mr. Brenchley stated that hewas. Dr. Naficy said that this was of course only in the viewof Her Majesty's Government, Mr. Brenchley asked why theIranian delegation were in London at all iſ they did notconsider Shaikh Shakhbut to be the Ruler of the State ofAbu Dhabi. Mr. Teimur said that this was not the proper place todiscuss this matter. He wondered what should be done il HerMajesty's Government could not agree to start from both ends.Mr. Brenchley suggested thats failing all else, they might startwith Qatar only. Mr, Teimur said that this was an entirelynew suggestion. He would like time to study it. He askedwhether the Qatar/Abu Dhabi seabed frontier was fixed. /Mr. Brenchley CONFIDENTIAL
