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Territorial Claims: Saudi Arabia and Iran 127

a lease. He had asked Shaykh Saqr bin Sultan of Sharjah to
attend the meeting, in order to influence his reluctant cousin;
but it turned out that both rulers were opposed to leasing the
island and decided that no amount of money would be compensation
enough.4
The Resident regarded this as a final decision, knowing how
weakened the ruler’s hold on his people would be if he ceded
any part of his acknowledged territory. In October 1930, however,
Taimurlash offered to rent Tunb and Abu Musa for fifty years.
Both the Foreign Office and the India Office saw this as a suitable
compromise, making a formal recognition of the rights of Ras al-Khai-
mah unnecessary: the implicit recognition underlying the acceptance
by Iran of rental agreement with Shaykh Sultan would be sufficient
admission of the ruler’s sovereignty. In April 1931, therefore, the
Residency Agent placed this proposal before Sultan, who now seemed
more willing to accept the idea of a lease, but insisted that, under
any such agreement, his flag should continue to fly over Tunb,
the inhabitants should not be controlled by.the Iranian Government,
and the Iranian Customs should have no authority in the island.5
In the meantime, however, negotiations between Britain and Iran
had been suspended, primarily because of disagreement over Tunb,
and the question of a lease from Sultan was left in abeyance.
It was revived in September 1933, when the Senior Naval Officer
reported that in a meeting he had had with Shaykh Sultan the
ruler had intimated that he had received a letter from Tehran
requesting him to lease Tunb to the Iranian Government.6 Although
the Senior Naval Officer had reminded Sultan of his treaty obliga­
tions, which forbade him to cede, sell, or mortgage any territory
without permission of the British Government, the Resident in Bushire
was alarmed. He uneasily noted the steady growth of Iranian interests
on the Trucial Coast during the past two years, and was worried
that this might indicate an undue interest in the area. In November
his fears were somewhat assuaged when the Residency Agent assured
him that Sultan had invented the story of the letter from Tehran
in order to induce the British Government to lease Tunb from
him.7
But Iranian advances to Sultan had been reported before. In
September 1933 the Senior Naval Officer informed the Resident
that an Iranian merchant had approached Sultan in order to persuade
him to switch his allegiance from Great Britain to Iran, ‘stating
that as Persia will be predominant naval power in Gulf would
be to his advantage’.8 Although there was no proof that the merchant
had been an Iranian Government agent in disguise, the visit was
regarded with suspicion, especially as it was generally believed that
he had made similar visits to other rulers on the Coast.