Page 391 - UAE Truncal States_Neat
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Chapter Nine

                 position and will attempt to bring pressure on Iran . . . and that they
                 will not permit it to act freely in occupying the island by fo rce. •• urn
                   An agreement between Sharjah and Iran was announced by the
                 Ruler of Sharjah on 29 November 1971 which was substantially more
                 favourable to Sharjah when compared to previous Iranian de­
                 mands.109 Sharjah retained sovereignly over the island except for a
                 part to be handed over to Iranian forces. In the event of oil being
                 produced on the island, Sharjah and Iran would have equal shares of
                 the revenue, but until Sharjah's own revenue from oil reached £3
                 million a year Iran was to give aid to Sharjah amounting to £1.5
                 million annually.  110
                    While the issue of the Iranian claim to Abu Musa was concluded in
                 the nick of time, the dispute over the two Ra’s al Khaimah islands
                 was not resolved. On 30 November, an Iranian task force took
                 possession of the allocated part of Abu Musa and was greeted by the
                 Deputy Ruler of Sharjah in accordance with the spirit of the peaceful
                 settlement. On the same day Iranian troops took over the two Tunbs
                 by force and a number of people, both Iranian troops and members of
                 Ra's al Khaimah’s police force, were killed on the Greater Tunb.
                   Although Britain was legally still bound to defend the Trucial
                 State's security she did not intervene. The Ruler of Ra’s al Khaimah
                 had been advised by Britain to accept an agreement similar to that
                 reached between Sharjah and Iran. Shaikh Saqr bin Muhammad of
                 Ra's al Khaimah refused such a deal to the last, and had instructed
                 his police force to shoot if Iranian troops attempted to land.
                   Reaction both against Iran, who had given a first demonstration of
                 its new power politics vis-a-vis an Arab country, and against Britain
                 ran high in some Arab countries. Iraq immediately severed diplo­
                 matic relations with Iran and Britain.
                   Most Arab States condemned the Iranian move: Libya, going one
                 step further, nationalised the interests of BP in Libya, handing them
                 over to the newly founded Arab Gulf Exploration Company.111
                 Throughout the Emirates of the lower Gulf, in particular in Ra's al
                 Khaimah and Sharjah. Iranian banks and other institutions were the
                 targets of stone-throwing youths. The Deputy Ruler of Sharjah who
                 had greeted the commander of the Iranian garrison force on Abu
                 Musa was shot at and wounded in Sharjah. These were the storm
                 clouds which cast long shadows over the formal inception of the
                 long-awaited Federation.


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