Page 422 - The Arabian Gulf States_Neat

356 THE LEGAL STATUS OP THE ARABIAN GULF STATES
British Foreign Office experts advised the Bahrain Government
that the Bahrain-Iran median line “should basically be drawn on the
principle of equidistance from both coasts, using mainland
low-water as the base-line’’. For this purpose, they advised that
Muharraq should be considered part of the Bahrain mainland, As
regards “other islands or offshore reefs”, they should not be given
weight in drawing the median line, the British experts stated.1
However, during the negotiation in Bahrain on the delimitation of
the Bahrain-Iran continental shelf boundary, the Bahraini
negotiators accepted, without argument, the Iranian proposal that
the Iranian islands of Nakhilu and Jabrin be given full effect in fixing
the base-lines from which the Bahrain-Iran median line could be
drawn.
The Bahrain-Iran continental shelf Agreement completes the
process of the demarcation of submarine boundaries in the Gulf,
which was initiated by the conclusion of the Bahrain-Saudi Arabia
continental shelf Agreement 1958. However, there are still two
small continental shelf areas in this part of the Gulf which have not
yet been delimited. These are the submarine areas between Bahrain
and Qatar and the submarine areas between Iran and the United
Arab Emirates.
The delimitation of the Bahrain-Iran continental shelf boundary
took place one year after the final resolution of Iran’s long-standing
claim to sovereignty over Bahrain and her formal recognition, in
May 1970, of Bahrain’s full sovereignty and independence.2

1. Archives of the Bahrain Government on Maritime Boundary, (1970).
2. See Monograph No. 1.