Gulf withdrawal; Iran warns U.K.

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32450, 10 November 1970, Page 19

Gulf withdrawal; Iran warns U.K.

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) BEIRUT, November 9. Iran has given a warning discreetly that if Britain withdraws her troops from the Persian Gulf, Iran is prepared to use force to back her claim to a strategic group of islands at the Guif’s eastern entrance.

In dispute are the tiny islands of Abu Musa and the Tumbs, which Britain has long recognised as belonging to the Arab Trucial States of Sharjah and Ras Al-Khaimah. Britain is responsible for the defence and foreign relations of the seven Trucial States.

The Shah of Iran conveyed his warning to the rulers of Sharjah and Ras Al-Khaimah through the British and Saudi Arabian Governments, diplomatic sources report.

In January, 1968, Britain’s Labour Government announced that' it would withdraw all its troops from the Gulf area by the end of 1971. With the return to power of the Conservatives, this policy is now being reassessed.

The Shah fears that if Britain withdraws from the Gulf, which contains two-thirds of the world’s known oil reserves, it will become a turbulent cockpit of rival claims and poWer-play. Iran is already engaged in a bitter feud with Leftist Iraq over navigation and sovereignty rights in the Shatt Al-Arab waterway that constitutes the border between the countries and head of the Gulf. A naval, air and military garrison on Abu Musa and the Tumbs would control effectively the Indian Ocean entrance to the Gulf, and a hostile Power in occupation of the islands could paralyse Iran’s vita! oil exports.

Britain has about 6500 troops in the Gulf area, stationed in Sharjah and Bahrain. A proposed federation of the seven Trucial States, together with neighbouring Bahrain and Qatar, suffered a serious set-back last month, when a meeting of deputyrulers broke up in acrimonious disarray.