Page 369 - The Arabian Gulf States_Neat

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SUBMARINE BOUNDARIES 305
have been subject to long-standing disputes between Iran and both
Sharjah and Ras al-Khaimah. Although at present Ras al-Khaimah
exercises jurisdiction over Tunb (or Tanb) islands, while Sharjah
exercises jurisdiction over the rest (except Sirri), Iran has not yet
relinquished her claim to these islands. Such unsettled claims could
delay offshore boundary settlements. According to Sir Rupert Hay,
the islands of Abu Musa and Abu Nu'ayr, lying ‘about 45 and 65
miles from Sharjah respectively, are included in the Shaikhdom [of
Sharjah]’. The Ruler of Sharjah, he says, granted a British Company
concessions to exploit the ‘deposits of red oxide’ which the two islands
contain. The former, he continues, ‘has wells of potable water and a
small settled population, and a brother of the Ruler sometimes resides
on it as Governor’.1 Concerning the island of Sirri, Lorimer states
that as early as 1887 the Persians started flying their flag over it.
Although the British Government, he continues, supported Sharjah’s
claim to the island at the time, it did not seem to pursue the claim
after 1888. Subsequently, the Persians appear to have exercised various
acts of jurisdiction over the island.2
In the summer of 1964, the island of Abu Musa was reported to
have been occupied by Iran. But the reports about the latter’s occupa­
tion of the island appear to have started ‘when a Persian ship put a
buoy near the island’. Although Iran subsequently denied the reports,
it seems clear that she still maintains a claim to this as well as to
Tunb islands.3
(d) Negotiations on the settlement of the offshore boundaries between
Iran and the Shaikhdoms of Bahrain, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah,
Ajman, Umm al-Qaiwain and Ras al-Khaimah4
Negotiations between Iran and the United Kingdom on the delimita­
tion of the submarine boundaries between Iran, on the eastern side
of the Gulf, and the Arab Shaikhdoms, on the western side of the
Gulf, have been in progress for some time. It is reported that the
negotiations are aimed at reaching an agreement on the principle of
constructing the median line between Iran and these Shaikhdoms.
According to recent reports, ‘negotiations are being held in London
between the British Foreign Office, which looks after the foreign rela­
tions of the Shaikhdoms, and an Iranian delegation headed by Amir
Taimur, Political Director of the Iranian Foreign Ministry’. In view
of the Iranian territorial claim to Bahrain, the latter is excluded from
the negotiations for the time being. The agreement will probably
1 Hay, op. cit., pp. 123-4. a Lorimer, p. 2066.
3 MEES, No. 14,4 February 1966. And see Appendix IV for the undertaking by
Sharjah respecting Tumb island.
4 For first hand information on the progress of these negotiations, see MEES,
No. 8, 24 December 1965 and No. 14, 4 February 1966. See Map 1.