By 1837 Simonitch had helped nudge the newly crowned Shah to use his British-armed troops to make yet another attack on the disputed city of Herat, offering him a lure of 50,000 gold tomans and the remittance of debt, in return for the Shah’s promise to allow the establishment of a Russian Legation in Herat once the conquest was completed. It was a brilliant stroke—encouraging the Shah’s ambitions in such a way that they threatened British interests in India—and turned the British-trained regiments directly against the interests of their trainers and suppliers.
