The claim of Iran to Bahrain

This file concerns the claim of Iran to the Island of Bahrain during the period March 1970. It contains correspondence relating to:

• A brief from the Foreign Secretary Michael Stewart to the Cabinet on an 'operation designed to solve the problem of the long-standing Iranian claim to Bahrain', dated 19 March 1970
• The agreement of Bahrain's representatives to the text of HMG's response to the letter from UN Secretary-General U Thant
• The transmission of HMG's reply to the Secretary General via Lord Caradon [H M Foot] and of another copy to the Permanent Representative of Iran at the UN Mehdi Vakil
• The appointment of the Head of Bahrain's Justice Department and Member of the State Council Sheikh Khalid Bin Mohammad Al Khalifa as Bahrain's emissary to the Gulf States
• The planned visit of Sheikh Mohammad Bin Mubarak Al Khalifa to Cairo and Baghdad
• A conversation between the UK Permanent Representative to the UN Lord Caradon and his counterpart from the United Arab Republic (UAR) Abdel Halim Badawi about the exercise and the latter's emphasis on the importance of consulting the Government of Syria
• The instructions from Stewart to HM Embassy in Tehran on answering press enquiries, drawing attention to the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi's speech in New Delhi, January 1969 and confirming that the possibility of a popular referendum cannot be envisaged in Bahrain
• Press articles from Iran, Britain, Jordan, Iraq and the UAR
• A conversation between G G Arthur and Bruno de Leusse on the exercise in Bahrain
• The travel arrangements for Winspeare, his interpreter George Khouri, and Secretaries Anders P Tolle and Lucien Commensoli and the flight from Geneva to Bahrain
• The conversations between Lord Caradon and the permanent representatives of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia Saeed Ya'qub Shammas and Jamil Murad Baroody respectively
• A visit by Mahmoud Alawi to the Ruler of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan
• A conversation between Lord Caradon and his Iraqi counterpart at the UN Adnan Raouf
• A meeting between Sheikh Mohammad Bin Mubarak and President Gamal Abdel Nasser
• The conversations of Lord Caradon with permanent representatives of Syria [George J Tomeh], Lebanon [Edouard Ghorra] and Jordan [Mohammad Hussein Al Farra] at the UN
• The effects of the exercise on the People's Republic of Yemen (PDRY's) propaganda and support for the Popular Front for the Liberation of the Occupied Arabian Gulf (PFLOAG)
• The meetings of Sheikh Mohammad Bin Mubarak with President Ahmad Hasan Al Bakr and Foreign Minister Abdul Karim Al Sheikhly of Iraq and their support for the exercise
• A message from the President of the Bahrain State Council, Bahrain Radio, 29 March 1970
• The announcement of the mission by the Personal Representative of the Secretary General.