Abstract: The file is concerned with proposals for the construction of an airfield – suitable for very heavy bombers – at Dhahran by the United States Army Air Transport Command as a wartime necessity, and applications from the United States to the United Kingdom for the latters support in obtaining permission from Saudi Arabia. See folios 239-241 for a brief on these proposals.The file also contains papers related to proposals for the post-war civil operation following the construction of the airfield, and the transfer of ownership from the United States to Saudi Arabia. Related papers concern proposals from Trans World Airlines for the development of civil aviation in Saudi Arabia, and counter proposals from the British Government for a civil air mission. This includes the use of Dhahran by the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC).A typed copy of a report by a Ministry of Civil Aviation Technical Survey Party on aerodromes in the Middle East and Persian Gulf (1947) has also been included: see folios 26-55. The minutes of a subsequent meeting held by the Civil Aviation Planning Committee on 1 April 1947 to discuss the reports findings can be found on folios 18-19.The main correspondents in the file are as follows: HM Minister at Jeddah (Sir Laurence Grafftey-Smith), officials of the Foreign Office, officials of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, and officials of the India Office (Commonwealth Relations Office from August 1947).The file includes a divider which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 260; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
Abstract: Correspondence, reports and other papers submitted by British officials in Iran, relating to the movements and actions of the Shah of Iran, Reza Shah Pahlavi, and labour legislation passed by the Government of Iran. The file is a direct chronological continuation of Coll 28/9 ‘Persia; Internal affairs; Shah’s tours in Persia: general situation reports’ (IOR/L/PS/12/3404). The file includes:Two reports written by the British Consul-General for Khorasan and Sistan (Captain Giles Frederick Squire). Both are entitled ‘An appreciation of the political situation in East Iran’, and dated 31 May 1938 (ff 59-65) and 6 December 1938 (ff 48-54) respectively.A report describing the Shah’s visit to Ahwaz [Ahvāz] in March 1939 (ff 39-43).A copy of a report, written by the Press Attaché at the British Legation at Tehran (Ann Katherine Swynford Lambton), dated 1 May 1941, on the state of public opinion in Iran in response to events in the Second World War in Iran’s neighbours, Iraq and Russia (ff 33-34).Papers relating to new labour legislation introduced by the Government of Iran in 1946, including a translation of regulations concerning the duties, organisation and procedure of the Supreme Labour Council (ff 18-19), and a translation of minimum wage regulations (ff 8-12).Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 66; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
Abstract: Following on from an earlier file (IOR/L/PS/12/2166), this file concerns British policy relating to Syria, following the success of the British-Free French military campaign in Syria [Operation Exporter]. (The abbreviation 'Incl.' in the title stands for 'Including').The date range of this file is 1941-44; however, most of the material dates from 1941.Notable correspondents include the following: His Majesty's Ambassador in Cairo (Miles Wedderburn Lampson); Minister of State, Cairo (Oliver Lyttelton); His Majesty's Ambassador in Bagdad [Baghdad] (Sir Kinahan Cornwallis); His Majesty's Ambassador in Washington (Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, referred to in the correspondence as Viscount Halifax); the Secretary of State for India (Frederick William Pethick-Lawrence); General Charles de Gaulle; General Georges Catroux; officials of the Foreign Office, the War Office, and the Government of India's External Affairs Department.The file includes discussion of the following:The British Government's relationship with Free France in Syria (particularly with General Charles de Gaulle) and the possibility that the Free French authorities are suspicious of Britain's interest in Syria.Concerns expressed by the Government of India (and to a lesser degree, by the War Office) that the Free French authorities intend to take the place of the Vichy administration in Syria and renege on promises of imminent independence.Arrangements for the repatriation of Vichy French officers and the return of British prisoners of war.The wording of a Free French declaration (a translated draft of which is included) announcing Syria's independence and the formation of a Syrian Government, with Sheikh Taj ed Din el Hassani [Taj al-Din al-Hasani] as President, issued on 27 September 1941.Britain's formal recognition of Syrian independence on 28 October 1941.Reports of unrest in the Deir es Zor [Deir ez-Zor] region during October 1941.The wording of a Free French declaration announcing Lebanon's independence (particularly the wording of paragraph 16, which makes reference to Lebanon as 'an indivisible unit'), issued on 26 November 1941 (a translated draft of the declaration is included).Whether the proclamations of Syrian and Lebanese independence constitute the termination of the French Mandate.Whether treaty negotiations should be initiated following the declarations of independence, or delayed until the end of the war.The appointment of Major General Sir Edward Spears as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Governments of Syria and Lebanon.Also included are copies of daily summaries produced by the Middle East Intelligence Centre (MEIC) in Cairo, covering early July 1941.There is a small amount of French language material, consisting of extracts from drafts of both of the aforementioned declarations, as well as a copy of the full text of the declaration of Lebanese independence.The file includes two dividers which give a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. These are placed at the back of the correspondence (folio 2-3).Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 312; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.