Iran calls Persian Gulf islands ‘inseparable part of Iran’s territorial integrity’
Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman rebuked on Thursday the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)’s insistence on repeating the United Arab Emirates (UAE)’s “baseless and incorrect” territorial claims over the Iranian islands of Abu Musa, Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb.
Reacting to the final communiqué of the 46th GCC Summit in Bahrain, Esmaeil Baqaei said the islands are an “inseparable part of Iran’s territorial integrity” and that any territorial claim over them is “groundless and invalid.”
Stressing that such positions run counter to the principles of respect for states’ territorial integrity and good neighborliness, Baqaei said Iran has exercised “effective, continuous and undisputed” sovereignty over the three islands for centuries, and repeated claims do not change “geographical and historical realities” nor create any legal rights for claimants.
Reiterating Iran’s policy of good neighborliness and cooperation to safeguard regional security and stability, the spokesman urged the UAE and the GCC to avoid provocative positions that undermine neighborly relations.
Baqaei also dismissed unilateral claims by Kuwait regarding the Arash gas field, saying repeated statements and unilateral assertions “create no legal rights” for Kuwait.
He said achieving a fair and lasting agreement on the field requires bilateral dialogue, joint efforts and a constructive atmosphere to secure mutual interests.
Warning about Iran’s
red lines
Ali Shamkhani, a representative of Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei at the Defense Council, warned the GCC against “unconstructive” claims regarding the three islands and the Arash gas field.
Shamkhani described in a post on his X account on Thursday the issues as Iran's red lines.
"The role of neighbors is to create security, not to play with the red lines of the Iranian nation,” he said.
He warned that the GCC’s “unconstructive" claims regarding the Iranian islands and the Arash field were raised again amid the malicious acts of the United States and the Israeli regime.
In its final communiqué, the GCC called on Iran to respond to the United Arab Emirates’ efforts to resolve the issue through direct negotiations or by referring it to the International Court of Justice.
The Persian Gulf islands of Abu Musa and the Greater and Lesser Tunbs have historically been part of Iran, proof of which can be found and corroborated by countless historical, legal, and geographical documents in Iran and other parts of the world. However, the United Arab Emirates has repeatedly laid claim to the islands.
The islands fell under British control in 1921, but on November 30, 1971, a day after British forces left the region and just two days before the UAE was to become an official federation, Iran’s sovereignty over the islands was restored.
The dispute over the Arash gas field, which Kuwaitis call al-Durra, dates back to the 1960s when Iran and Kuwait were awarded overlapping offshore concessions for the field following its discovery.
The field is estimated to hold 20 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves, with production capacity of one billion cubic feet per day. Nearly 40% of the Arash gas field is located in Iranian waters.