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20 The Origins of the United Arab Emirates

the Gulf; and Saudi Arabia did so by dint of its spectacular
growth, culminating in its domination of most of the Arabian penin­
sula from the Red Sea to the Gulf.
Britain had previously been able to command the Gulf area
from the Residency at Bushirc in southern Persia thanks to the
special privileges it held there; but, after the rise to power of
Riza Shah, in 1921, the maintenance of the status quo became
impossible. One of the first acts of the new government was to
denounce the Anglo-Pcrsian Agreement of 1919 which had placed
Britain in control of the Persian army and finances; in the following
years it became only too clear that Iran was not willing to accept
foreign domination m any form. British concessions gradually began
to diminish, and with them the former prestige and control. In
1936 it was finally decided to remove that bastion of authority,
the Residency, from Bushirc to Bahrain. Although for various reasons
the removal did not actually take place until 1946, there were
in the meantime other manifestations of the reduction of British
influence in Iran. One such was the evacuation, in 1935, of the
naval bases at Henjam and Basidu to Bahrain and Khawr Kuwai,
indicating the new and added importance of the Arab coast.
The centre of gravity of British interests in the Gulf was thus
deliberately moved from the Persian to the Arab side of the Gulf.
The new emphasis was seen as requiring special measures to secure
British supremacy on the Arab side, and as a result efforts were
made to take a tighter hold on the Arab shavkhdoms, especially
Bahrain. In 1923, direct interference in the internal affairs of Bahrain
was considered necessary, following an uprising there; the ruler,
Shaykh ‘Isa, was deposed in favour of his son, Shaykh Hamad,
and a series of reforms was imposed. A proper police force was
organised, under the guidance of a British commandant; the Customs
Department was rearranged, with a British director in charge; and
a Briton was appointed adviser to the ruler.6 Before long, Bahrain
was, to all intents and purposes, a British province.
The shaykhdoms of the Trucial Coast were never subjected to
such close control, but they gradually began to lose their former
remoteness and were brought more firmly within the British 01 bit.
Two basic questions dominated the formulation of policy towards
them during the 1920s and 1930s: whether direct interference in
local affairs, a deviation from the accepted procedure, was advisable,
and whether the stationing of a British agent on the Coast was
necessary.
Generally speaking, it was the successive Political Residents in
.
the Gulf who advocated a policy of greater involvement, in order
both to seal the Trucial Coast off from I bn Sa‘ud, and to ensure
the peaceful establishment of the air-route. But, despite much discus-