Qajar Government in Conflict with Ottoman Expansionist Policy over Ownership of Khorramshahr and Iranian Islands Southwest of Khuzestan

In the historical documents of the Qajar period and some of the new researches, there is a fleeting news about the aggressive actions of the Ottoman government regarding the port of Khorramshahr and the Iranian islands southwest of Khuzestan. However, there is no coherent narrative about the factors and how this is done. This article seeks to explain this issue with a historical approach and by describing and analyzing the sources and documents of the Qajar period, in the form of the narrative of the Ottoman "strategic expansionist policy". The findings of this study are as follows: First, the strategic location of Khorramshahr and the islands of the region allowed the Ottoman rivals to dominate Basra, Mesopotamia, and the trade and military routes leading to the crucial Persian Gulf waterway, which was sensitive and threatening for this government. Second, the possible domination of the fertile areas of Khorramshahr and Abadan could have yielded considerable wealth from the sale of agricultural products and tax revenues to the Ottoman government and the pasha of Baghdad. Third, the entanglement of the political, social, and economic geography of the Khorramshahr region with the Basra and Baghdad basins had increased the security sensitivities and economic importance of this important region for the Ottoman government. Hence, the Ottoman government pursued a policy of expansionism, using opaque treaties and not definitively defining the boundaries between them; The changes that the Arvand River brought to the borders, and the intertwined political, social, and economic geography of these areas with the Mesopotamian region, led to repeated occupations in these areas; And during the negotiations with the Qajar government, he insisted on his totalitarian claims. However, due to the correct politicking of the diplomats of the Qajar government, it failed to achieve its goals.