party, however, were unsatisfied with the outcome and threatened to leave the negotiations. The mediators, determined to avoid such results, continued to give the Ottomans assurances but kept the Iranians ignorant of them, hoping Mohammad Shah would endorse the new results. On 31 May 1847, Farahani and Efendi signed the treaty and left Erzurum, and on 26 June, Mohammad Shah also ratified the treaty. While the tensions seemed to be resolved, the Ottoman government secretly added three more articles to the treaty with the support of British and Russian ambassadors. Based on these articles, Iran's rights on the Shatt al-Arab were revoked and those on Khorramshahr were reduced. Contrary to the agreements, control of Shatt al-Arab, except a few islands, was handed to the Ottoman Empire. At the end of January 1848, Mirza Javad, a courier from Tehran, arrived in Istanbul with Mohammad Shah's ratified copies of the treaty; the Ottoman government insisted they would not ratify the treaty unless the shah agreed to the new articles. Not wanting to raise Mohammad Shah's suspicion, the British and Russian ambassadors persuaded Miza Mohammad Ali Khan, Iran's envoy to France who was in Istanbul at the time, to agree to the new articles. Mirza Mohammad Ali agreed to the articles, alternatively called the "Explanatory Note", only if the ambassadors signed an official statement whereon they informed Mohammad Shah it was necessary for maintaining the treaty. Mohammad Shah did not accept the new terms and declared the treaty false and invalid. The tensions between Iran and the Ottomans persisted even after the fall of the Ottoman Empire because the newly established country Iraq inherited these disputes with Iran. Abolition of slavery in the Persian Gulf In the 1840s, an estimated four-to-five-thousand slaves were sold in the Persian Gulf each year. When Justin Sheil succeeded John McNiel as the envoy to Iran in 1844, he and his wife observed the slavery and decided to act against it. He sent a letter to Aqasi and pleaded for its abolition. Mohammad Shah, however, did not respond to this diplomatic pressure so Sheil brought up the moral aspect of slavery, emphasizing its negative impacts on the African population. Mohammad Shah remained unmoved and said abolition would contradict the Islamic tradition. Sheil further argued his points but Mohammad responded such interference would undermine diplomatic relations between the two nations. In late 1847, Sheil was recalled to London and