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Iranian MP: West provokes UAE over PG islands

Iran Materials 30 September 2011 13:24 (UTC +04:00)
UAE's repeated ownership claims over Iran's three Persian Gulf islands are provoked by foreign powers who seek to destabilize the region.
Iranian MP: West provokes UAE over PG islands

Azerbaijan, Baku, Sept. 30 /Trend/

UAE's repeated ownership claims over Iran's three Persian Gulf islands are provoked by foreign powers who seek to destabilize the region, said Kazem Jalali, spokesman for Iran's Parliament Committee on National Security and Foreign Policy, Press TV reported with reference to Mehr News Agency.

On Sept. 26, UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed al-Nahyan called on Iran to either enter into serious, direct talks over three islands which it says are an integral part of UAE territory or refer the issue to the United Nations International Court of Justice (ICJ).

"The remarks are orders dictated by extra-regional powers to UAE officials and are aimed at spreading division and tension in the Middle East," Jalali said on Thursday.

He described the remarks as "repetitious and ludicrous" and said they stood against the good neighbor policy.

Jalali said that the comments served the interests of foreign countries and were to the detriment of regional countries, reiterating that the three islands remained part of Iran's territory.

The three Persian Gulf islands Greater and Lesser Tunbs and Abu Musa have been a subject of dispute between Iran and the UAE. They were historically owned by Iran, but Britain's colonialism led to the islands temporarily falling under British control in the 1800s.

The islands were then returned to Iran on Nov.30 1971 through a legal process before the UAE was created and the Al Nahyan family assumed leadership.

A 1971 agreement stated that the Islands Greater and Lesser Tunbs near the strategic Hormuz Strait belong to the Iranian territory in the Persian Gulf, and Tehran and Abu Dhabi should implement joint control of Abu Musa. However, the UAE refuses to accept the agreement.

The PGCC statement in December 2010 claiming the three islands "are an integral part of the United Arab Emirates" heightened the tension and provoked strong reactions of the Iranian Foreign Ministry officials and parliamentarians.

The UAE has repeatedly made claims of sovereignty over these islands, but Iran has always described the claims as invalid and baseless, insisting that the islands are an inseparable part of Iran. Tehran said any ambiguity on the issue of the islands can be resolved through peaceful talks.

Despite the territorial dispute, the countries have strong economic ties. The UAE is the largest trading partner of Iran in the Persian Gulf. According to Arab media, about 400,000 Iranians reside in the UAE.

Edited by T.Konyayeva.

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