Page 231 - The Arabian Gulf States_Neat

IRAN'S CLAIM TO BAHRAIN 169
engagement with the British authorities ‘without his knowledge or
injunction’.1
After this incident the Persian pretensions towards Bahrain were
shelved for over twenty years, until 1845, when the Prime Minister of
Persia, Mcerza Aghassi, introduced his government’s claim in an
elaborate note to the British Government. Before discussing the
reasons entertained by the Persian Premier in support of his Govern­
ment's case it seems useful, for the purpose of this study, to refer to
the occurrences between 1830-45 which seem to have overshadowed
the formulation of the Persian claim.
Bahrain during this period was internally and externally unstable.
Externally, the Ruler of Bahrain, who had previously paid tribute
to the Wahhabi rulers of Najd, now stopped that payment and the
relations between Bahrain and the Wahhabis underwent a great strain
which, in 1833, developed into war between the two countries. The
instability of Bahrain encouraged Persia to resume, with the co-opera­
tion of the Imam of Muscat, her threats to conquer it. But the Shaikh
of Bahrain frustrated that threat by coming to terms, in 1836, with
the Wahhabi Ruler who agreed to supply him with ‘contingent of
troops to repel any Persian invasion of Bahrain’, while the Shaikh
promised to pay a small tribute to the Wahhabi Ruler.2
The internal situation in Bahrain was disturbed from 1830 until
1843 by dynastic quarrels between the Shaikhs, which finally resulted
in Shaikh Muhammad ibn Khalifah expelling his uncle Shaikh 'Abd
Allah, the Ruler, and seizing power himself. Shaikh rAbd Allah spent
the rest of his life endeavouring to regain Bahrain by asking the help
of the British, the Persians and the Sultan of Muscat. The Persians
promised help, but the British refrained from taking part in a family
quarrel.3
Thus, in an interview between Captain Hennell, British Resident at
Bushire, and the Governor of Bushire, Captain Hennell informed the
Persian Governor that he considered the dispute as a family affair
and that, therefore,
so long as it was confined to themselves and the peace of the sea remained
undisturbed by it, we did not favour one party more than the other.4
However, when it was known to the British Government that
Persia was preparing a military expedition to Bahrain in support of
the ex-Shaikh, who apparently had promised to accept Persian suzer­
ainty once he succeeded in regaining the island, fresh instructions were
1I.O. Persia and Persian Gulf Scries, vol. 35, 25 January 1823, p. 381.
2 F.O. 60/118,1845. Chronological table of events connected with Bahrain, etc.,
op. cit. May-June 1836-9.
3 F.O. 60/98, 1843, Kcmball to Sheil, 3 October 1843; F.O. 60/103, 1844,
Sheil to Aberdeen, 25 January 1844.
4 Ibid., Hennell to Sheil, 23 December 1843.