British Missions Around the Gulf, 1575-2005: Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman

Hugh Arbuthnott, GMG, read history at Oxford before joining the FO and studying Persian at SOAS. He was posted to Tehran in the early 1960s and again in the early 1970s. Other postings were in Lagos and Paris and, as Ambassador, in Bucharest, Lisbon and Copenhagen. He retired from the FCO in 1996 and is now Chairman of the Iran Society. Sir Terence Clark joined the Foreign Service from the Royal Air Force as a Russian interpreter but went on to study Arabic at the Middle East Centre for Arab Studies, Lebanon and spent much of his career in the Middle East, finishing as Ambassador to Iraq (1985-89) and Oman (1990-94). Richard Muir began his career in the Foreign Service by studying Arabic. He served in Washington, in the Arab world and in a series of jobs in London, including as Chief Inspector of the Diplomatic Service. He was Ambassador to Oman and later to Kuwait (1999 - 2002).

Recent events have once again focused international attention on the volatile politics of the Gulf region. This new book, by three former British ambassadors demonstrates the importance of the Gulf for Britain from the days of Elizabeth I to the present. It tells the story in the four key regional states of Iran, Iraq, Kuwait and Oman.

Introduction (Jim Hoare); Acknowledgements; Disclaimer; Maps; List of Illustrations: Part One: IRAN (Hugh Arbuthnott); 1 The embassy; The consulates; Part Two: IRAQ; 3 Iraq (Terence Clark); Part Three: KUWAIT (Richard Muir); 4 Kuwait; Part Four: OMAN (Terence Clark); 5 Oman; Heads of Mission in the Gulf Posts; Bibliography; Name index; Place index