The spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Saeed Khatibzadeh, stated on Monday that the three islands in the Gulf (Abu Musa, Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb) are an integral part of his country’s territory.
In response to the Emirates’ statements regarding the three islands and the project to build the Emirati oil pipeline with Israel in the Gulf, Khatibzadeh said in his weekly press conference, as quoted by the Fars News Agency:
“Regardless of the amount of error that one of the neighboring countries commits, we are trying to return it to the right track of regional procedures according to the policy of good neighbors. T UAE has gone in the wrong direction in some areas for years.”
He continued, “Iran does not allow anyone to do anything on its borders and territories with regard to the three islands, and the three islands in the Persian Gulf have certainly been part of Iran, and these allegations do not create any rights for anyone and do not affect the exercise of Iranian sovereignty.”
He added, “The Zionist entity is in the gutter and is trying to drown everyone with it, and we hope that the UAE and the current government will not sink with the Zionist entity.”
The British government granted Iran in 1968 the Greater Tunb Islands, Lesser Tunb and Abu Musa, before their withdrawal from the Arab Emirates.
The three islands became the subject of a dispute between the UAE and Iran, which it had controlled since 1971, and each party claimed sovereignty over them.
Despite the small size of the three islands, they are of very great strategic and economic importance for the two countries, as the islands overlook the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 40 percent of global oil production passes daily. Whoever controls these islands controls the maritime traffic in the Gulf.
Source » almasdarnews