نشریه مطالعات خلیج فارس
سال دوم شماره 4 (پیاپی 8، زمستان 1395- بهار 1396)

This paper is intended to explore and criticize the various frameworks which have been used in order to explain and analyze the issues and problems related to the Persian Gulf. What has been indexed regarding this waterway until the present time has been solely limited to a thematic study of the articles and books published inside and outside Iran, whereas the theoretical approaches of such studies have still remained obscure. This study mainly seeks to answer the following questions: What frameworks or approaches are used in the study of a phenomenon or topic called the Persian Gulf? What is the criterion for determining the efficiency of such studies in developing the knowledge of this field? What is the reason for choosing specific approaches in this field? The important assumption here is that the Persian Gulf is an interdisciplinary subject, and, thus, historical-geographical, cultural-political, security-orientated, and economic approaches, respectively, have been the most frequently adopted approaches in the related studies and have had the greatest share in producing the literature in this regard. This study was conducted following an analytic-comparative method, and the required data were collected using the library method. The findings indicate that the above approaches have been formed on the basis of external needs and international, national, and regional considerations. They also demonstrate that the disputes over Bahrain, the three-fold islands, and the name of the Persian Gulf are the most important national elements involved in expanding the historical studies in this field.

Given the geopolitical and geostrategic status of the Persian Gulf and its commercial, transit, and military potentials, this waterway has always attracted the attention of great world powers. Due to Britain’s support of India, the presence of this country in the Persian Gulf became more tangible in the past and, after the discovery of energy resources in 1908 in this region, it turned into a very important waterway. The colonial powers of the West, headed by England, deliberately created some tangible changes in the political geography of the Persian Gulf in order to optimally exploit its potentials. Two important foreign policies of England in the Persian Gulf included provoking ethnic and language-related disagreements and distorting the history of the region. Such policies were later followed by Jamal Abdul Nasir, his advocates, and, later, by the newly independent countries of the south coasts of the Persian Gulf. One of the tools that has been used in the cultural war of western-Arab countries against Iran is the archaeology of the Persian Gulf region. The entrance of fake names instead of the Persian Gulf into the scientific literature of the West and attaching greater importance to the southern coasts of this waterway comparing to its northern coasts comprise only a small part of the archeological achievements of the Arab countries of the region. Considering, the place of archeology in the international cultural war in the Persian Gulf, this paper focuses on perceiving the significance of the cultural war provoked by western-Arab countries in this region andpaying attention to the archeological potentials of Iran and its critical and determining role in establishing the power balance in the Persian Gulf.

The Persian Gulf is the third largest gulf of the world after the Gulf of Mexico and Hudson Bay. Several years before oil transformed it into an important region in the world, its strategic location had turned it into the most important commercial linking route for various countries, and the benefits of different empires depended on this valuable waterway. That is why at that time it was a magnet for political attention and an arena of marine attacks. The events of the last 50 years show that not only the Persian Gulf is an important cradle for economic enterprises, but also the security of the world depends on this unique waterway as a semi-closed sea. This paper aims to explore the specific features of the Persian Gulf which are of great significance in determining military and economic strategies.

India was the largest and most beneficial colony of the British Empire in the 19th century. However, it was very difficult for this Empire to maintain its colonial rule over India without taking the Persian Gulf into account. Holding control over this region functioned as a strong barrier against the penetration of great world powers and England’s European rivals into the southeastern regions of Asia. Moreover, the Persian Gulf was considered to be an appropriate place for securing the economic, commercial, and military benefits of the British Empire in the region. The dominance of England over the Persian Gulf in the 19th century necessitated establishing some naval bases and facilities in the ports and islands of that region. Relying on library resources and documents, this paper aims to explore Britain’s naval bases and establishments in the Iranian ports and islands of the Persian Gulf.

The several islands of the Persian Gulf, particularly, Abu Musa and the Greater and Lesser Tunbs, have always been the dominions of Iran. If during some periods of time, no explicit reference has been made to this rule, it is not because Iran had no control over them. Rather, it means that Iran’s possession of and rule over these islands have always been so absolute and certain that there has never been any need to emphasize it again. Iran has never accepted the rule of any country and colonial power over the islands of the Persian Gulf in any historical period; in fact, the occupation of some of these islands by England in the past has always been opposed by Iran. The international law, United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, some official documents of the Iranian and British embassies and the correspondences between them, some official and administrative reports of the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs of the United Kingdom, the law of priority in property and proving Britain’s unlawful occupation of the islands, the doctrine of promissory estoppel and admitting Iran’s sovereignty over the islands, the law of succession agreement and the necessity of commitment to it, and the content of the 1977 agreement are all among the proofs demonstrating Iran’s longstanding ownership of and sovereignty over the three island in the Persian Gulf.

The written legacies of Mohammad Ali Sadid al-Saltanah Kababi are considered to be among the earliest works of Iranian researchers in the field of the history of the Persian Gulf. In his numerous writings and research activities, Sadid has explained the existing events and facts regarding all the natural, geographical, and anthropological dimensions of the Persian Gulf following a scientific and critical method. In doing so, he has studied all the common cultural, economic, and social aspects of the northern and southern cities and villages of this region. In addition to this all-inclusive view, Sadid al-Saltanah, in spite of being a Qajar statesman, was never content withchronicle or report writing in the historiography of the Persian Gulf. Unlike the secretaries and historiographers in the employment of the courts of the governments before and after him, he was involved in the accurate description and explanation of events, scientific analysis of the related facts, and drawing of logical conclusions. In this paper, following a descriptive comparative-analytic method, the writer has examined the innovative approach of this historian through reading the lines and between the lines of the texts left from him. The findings of the study indicate that this self-made distinguished figure was the first person to write the modern history of the Persian Gulf, not only based on all the principles and methods of modern historiography but also by considering the most important known and pervasive elements of that time, following a different approach and while using his own profound wisdom and inquisitive and creative mind.

Khurbas on Qeshm Island, with an area of about 10 hectares, is an ancient site housing a valuable collection of remains from the prehistoric period until the recent Islamic centuries. Based on surface explorations, it has been discovered that a noteworthy number of the remains of this ancient site belong to the recent Islamic era. They mainly include stone architectural structures, Islamic graves, a residential area, a shrine, an underground cistern, water ducts, and an embankment dam. The purpose of this paper is to explore and record the chronology of those historical remains in this site which have not been previously studied. Therefore, it mainly aims to provide an answer to the following questions: Based on the previously conducted studies, what was the significance of this site in the past? How can we create the timeline of such remains? This study rests on the presupposition that, due to its strategic location, this region played a significant role in sea commerce, which is the reason why it has been the focus of particular attention during the recent centuries. The research findings indicate that as a commercial port, Khurbas played a very important role in the export and import of the goods of the northern and easterns coasts of the Persian Gulf.