the declaration of war, on a squadron or flotilla of seven steamships under Commodore Young, towing thirty sailing vessels. The British landed a force and captured the island of Kharag on 4 December and landed on 9 December on the coast a few miles south of Persia's primary port of Bushire. Battle of Bushehr The first division of the expedition disembarked in the neighbourhood of the major port city of Bushehr on 5 December 1856. They stormed the old fort at Reshire (also called Rishahr or Rashir) and after a short naval bombardment went on to capture the city on 10 December, ably assisted by the two companies of Bombay Sappers & Miners. There was then a delay as the British waited for reinforcements. Reconnaissance inland revealed a Persian force of 4,000 troops at Shiraz and the first division was considered too weak to venture inland away from its maritime base of operations. This led to the formation and induction of a second division from India, which landed in Persia in late January and reached Bushehr, preceded by Outram on 20 January. On 26 Rabi al-Thani 1273 (24 December 1856) the Persian government at Tehran issued an official proclamation outlining its pacifist approach to the “coolness” that had arisen between the British and Persian administrations. The Persian government claimed that its loyal determination to not violate the prior friendship between the British and Persian administrations had been made manifest to all levels of government and had been published in the Tehran Gazette. In hoping for a diplomatic solution by Farrokh Khan’s embassy at Constantinople, Nuri's government claimed to have directed all authorities on Iran's southern frontier to not make any preparation for war. The proclamation emphasized that this order had also been promulgated to Bushehr, where the garrison was limited to two regiments under Colonel Mohammad Ali Khan. Tehran expressed that the British declaration of war was delayed and not provided to the Persian government or the office of the Governor-General of Fars. Instead, this declaration was addressed to the port city of Bushehr and its neighboring ports. As such, the Persian government tried to explain the fall of Bushehr as a result of Britain's dubious declaration and Tehran's commitment to diplomacy. Following the British landing at Bushehr, the Persian government mobilised its regular infantry to occupy positions surrounding Mohammareh as an attack was expected there. However, the Al-Nawasir branch