Page 120 - The Origins of the United Arab Emirates_Neat

9^ The Origins of the United Arab Emirates
required to afford facilities for an air route which they readily
recognise must end in their coming to a larger degree under British
control’.12
The use of force finally made Sultan accept the barge, for on
6 June the HMS Cyclamen arrested eight pearling dhows belonging
to Ras al-Khaimah.13 By what Biscoc regarded as a fortuitous
coincidence, Shaykh Salih of Dibba also sent word to Sultan that
he would attack him if he did not come to terms with the British.14
At first, Sultan remained firm. He continued to refuse to visit
the Resident and sent messages that he was unwilling to modify
his earlier stand. This so infuriated the Resident that he asked
for permission, firmly refused by the Government of India and
the India Office, to issue an ultimatum to the ruler that his towers
and fort would be bombarded if lie did not sign an agreement.
Finally, however, Sultan succumbed to all the pressures, and, after
long sessions with Sultan of Sharjah, who acted as mediator,15
signed a document, on 15 June, that allowed the barge to remain
at Ras al-Khaimah for one year. He also gave permission for
the petrol store to be replenished, and promised to appoint a
guard to protect the barge.16 Furthermore, lie accepted responsibility
for the safety of the Residency Agent and his dependents, his
brother Muhammad undertaking to compensate ‘Isa for the damage
caused by the cutting off of his water supply.17
This incident proved to be the first in a long series of power
struggles, for the attitude of the Iranian Government made the
Trucial Coast essential to the establishment of a civil air-route
in the region. In 1925, Imperial Airways Ltd18 announced that
it wished to operate a regular civil air-service between Cairo and
Karachi, and sought permission to fly along the Iranian shore
of the Gulf. Although at first it seemed likely that the service
would be allowed, in December 1926 the Iranian Government gave
definite orders that all plans for the projected route must cease.
The British Minister in Tehran participated in a number of discussions
and conferences in an attempt to obtain permission, but a deadlock
ensued until the initialling, in May 1928, of a draft Anglo-Persian
treaty, in which the Iranian Government undertook to reopen nego­
tiations for the air-route. Later that year, the Iranians agreed to
allow Imperial Airways to operate a service for three years from
January 1929, with Bushire and Jask as airports and Lingah as
an emergency landing ground, but permission was not to be renewed
after that. These restrictions obliged the Air Ministry and Imperial
Airways urgently to consider the Arab coast as an alternative,
while negotiations for the renewal of permission by Iran continued.
When hopes for the further use of the Iranian route began to
wane, the Cabinet officially contemplated preparing for the establish-