‘A Watershed in our Relations with the Trucial States’: Great Britain's Policy to Prevent the Opening of an Arab League Office in the Persian Gulf in 1965

Abstract

This article describes how the intention of the Arab League announced in January 1965 to open a development office in the Trucial States resulted in a major crisis for Great Britain's informal empire in the Persian Gulf. It explains why the British Government regarded the Arab League's plan as a significant threat to its interests in the Persian Gulf and describes the strategy the British employed to counter it. The article argues that the British determination to prevent an extension of Arab League influence to the Gulf dominated Great Britain's relations with the rulers of the Trucial States from January to June 1965, and led to the creation of the Trucial States Development Office and eventually the deposition of Shaikh Saqr of Sharjah.