CONFIDENTIAL rights of the Ruler of Sharjah. They could not differentiatein this way between the four islands. The only differencebetween them was not a legal difference but a matter of fact,Sirri was occupioa by Tran, the others by the Arabs. They wereopposite sides of the same coin, Mr. Teimur said thaº Mr. Batstone had also suggestedthat the line should be bent to take account of Sirri'sterritorial waters and an undertaking to discuss certainislands only inserted in the Agreement. Mr. Brenchley askedwhether they would discuss four islands or none. Mr. Teimurreplied that they would discuss certain islands. Mr. Brenchleysaid that bending the line implied recognition of the Iranianclaim to Sirri. Her Majesty's Government could not do this,Mr. Teimur wondered what was to happen next. Mr. Brenchleysaid that he must report to his superiors. He would howeverlike to repeat the British delegation's proposals. The firstwas to take the line straight past Sirri and include Article 4.This would permit a clarification of the Median Line when thesovereignty over Sirri and the other islands was settled.This offer was still open. The second proposal was to limitthe Agreement to Qatar and Abu Dhabi. Before the rest of theline was settled they could discuss the four islands. Mr. Teimursaid that he had already made the point that the IranianGovernment could only talk about the three islands.Mr. Brenchley regretted that he had not understood this earlier.Mr. Teimur said that it was clearly stated in Mr. Zelli's letter.But the suggestion that Mr. Batstone had made to Dr, Movahedyesterday that they should bend the line to take account ofSirri was helpful. It was a pity that it had not been putforward today, Dr. Movahed explained that Mr. Batstone had notactually made such a suggestion. They had merely discussed itand Mr. Batstone had said that he feared it was quite unacceptable to the British side. Mr. Brenchley agreed that this was so.It implied Iranian sovereignty over Sirri, Mr. Teimur referredagain to Mr. Zelli's letter to Mr. Weir. It made it clear thatthe Iranian Government could not discuss the sovereignty ofSirri, Mr. Brenchley repeated that Her Majesty's Governmentcould not discuss the islands iſ only three were to be includedin the discussions. But he asked whether the Iranians could notagree on the Qatar and Abu Dhabi sector. Mr. Teimur said itwas better to decide the question of the three islands first.Mr. Brenchley said this was not possible. There were fourislands involved. Mr. Teimur suggested that they should start at the other endof the Gulf with Qishm, the Tunbs and Abu Musa. Mr. Brenchleyexplained that Her Majesty's Government were acting for severalRulers. It was theoretically possible that the Ruler of Ras alKhaimah would agree to a discussion of the sovereignty of theTunbs and a division of the seabed in that sector where Qishmwas involved. It would not however be possible to include AbuMusa, which belonged to the Ruler of Sharjah, who also claimedSirri. Her Majesty's Government could not suggest to him that heshould agree to a discussion of Abu Musa without Sirri.Mr. Teimur suggested that they should first discuss then thetwo Tunbs. That would be a start. Mr. Brenchley demurred.It would not be much of one. He suggested that it would bebetter to start with Qatar and Abu Dhabi. This was theurgent sector where an oil company was already drilling.Mr. Teimur said that the Iranians wanted to settle all problems.Mr. Brenchley replied that Her Majesty's Government would be Müelighted CONFIDENTIAL
