UK policy and military presence in Persian Gulf: discussions on Union of Arab Emirate states; correspondence with Carol Mather MP

This file concerns UK policy in the Gulf, the military withdrawal scheduled for 1971 and proposals for establishing a Union of Arab Emirates. It contains reports, briefing papers, meeting notes and correspondence on:

• Effects on regional policy of a new British government under the Prime Minister Edward Heath and the incoming Foreign Secretary Sir Alec Douglas-Home
• Record of a conversation between the Foreign Secretary and the Iranian Ambassador Amir Khosrow Afshar
• Opposition of the UK Ambassador in Tehran Sir D A H Wright to the Foreign Secretary's suggestion that the Ambassador meet the Shah of Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi at St Moritz
• Record of a meeting in Brussels on 10 July 1970 between the Shah and the Foreign Secretary and the latter's report to the Prime Minister; the unhappiness of the Ruler of Bahrain Sheikh Isa Bin Salman Al Khalifa at the meeting
• Shah's views on: the threat of the Soviet Union, and of a Baathist or revolutionary regime in the Gulf; and on the importance of resolving the dispute over Abu Musa and the Tunb Islands
• Appointment of Sir W H T Luce as regional policy coordinator; his meeting in Downing Street with the Prime Minister, the Foreign Secretary, the Defence Secretary Lord Carrington [Peter Alexander Rupert Carington] and the Chief Secretary to the Treasury Maurice Macmillan
• Luce's visit to the region, the text of his reports, and the discussion arising from his reports; Luce's finding against a suggestion of delaying the UK withdrawal beyond 1971, but his advocacy of a continued regional naval presence in the Indian Ocean
• Exchange of letters between the Prime Minister and Carol Mather MP who opposes military withdrawal
• Limited capabilities of the Trucial Oman Scouts and the possibility of a union force
• Urgent need to encourage the Trucial States Rulers towards union
• Letter from the Foreign Secretary to the Ruler of Saudi Arabia King Faisal Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, following a failed effort to arrange a meeting with him in Switzerland
• Message from King Faisal to the Minister of State on the importance of a union of nine, and on the regional risk of sedition
• Record of a conversation in Geneva on 8 July 1970 between the UK Ambassador to Saudi Arabia W Morris and Saudi Counsellors Rashad Faraon and Sheikh Kemal Adham
• Saudi-Abu Dhabi boundary, and a Saudi proposal for a referendum in Buraimi
• Relief of the battalion stationed in Sharjah, and the question of how long to retain this force in this post
• Future of Bahrain and the notice given by the Ruler that he does not wish an army battalion to be stationed on the islands beyond 1971 even if an RAF or a Royal Navy presence might continue
• Extracts from the record of a meeting between Mr Heath and the Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi
• Disputes over oil drilling by Occidental Petroleum Corporation off Abu Musa; and between Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia at Zararrah