Ministry protests building on Abu Musa

Mahmoud Habboush

• Last Updated: August 15. 2008 12:49AM UAE / August 14. 2008 8:49PM GMT

ABU DHABI // The Government today handed Iran’s chargé d’affaires in the UAE a note of protest following Tehran’s televised claim this week that it had erected two new buildings on the disputed island of Abu Musa.

Iran occupied the small island, 60km off the coast of the UAE, in 1971, along with the Greater and Lesser Tunb islands, about 30km southwest of the Iranian island of Qeshm.

A foreign ministry official voiced regret for “such violations that do not help promote bilateral relations” between the countries, according to WAM, the government news agency.

The UAE considered “such illegitimate actions flagrant violation of the memorandum of understanding” which was signed with Iran in Nov 1971.

According to a report on Iranian state television on Monday, one of the buildings is a marine rescue centre and the other is a registration office for ships and sailors.
The foreign ministry official stressed that the memorandum did not give Iran any sovereignty over the island or any parts of the island. Iran, he said, should abide by its obligations and reverse any measures it had taken on the island in violation of the memorandum, WAM reported.

He urged the Islamic republic to accept the UAE’s frequently expressed request to refer the dispute to international arbitration, such as that offered by the International Court of Justice.

It was the first time in nearly a decade that Iranian officials had spoken about construction work on Abu Musa, which sits at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz.

Mohammed al Zaabi, a Sharjah member of the Federal National Council, said yesterday: “Such behaviour leads to igniting a sort of tension in the area. This is a breach of the Emirates’ sovereignty; these islands are disputed land. No resolution has been reached yet. They act as if they own them.”

Iran’s actions, he said, “are not in the interest of the region, they don’t reflect the Islamic brotherhood and they’re causing rift”.

Although the 1971 memorandum was signed by the ruler of Sharjah, the federal Government has been in charge of the UAE’s efforts to end the occupation of the three islands.

“We cannot surrender these islands to whoever,” said Mr Zaabi.

The late Sheikh Zayed, the nation’s founder, urged Iran on several occasions to enter talks over the islands.

Last month, Dr Anwar Gargash, the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, called on Iran to respond to its “peaceful initiatives” to settle the dispute. Dr Gargash made the appeal in Tehran during an address to foreign ministers of the 118-member Non-Aligned Movement.

Dr Mohamed bin Huwaidin, a political-science professor at the UAE University, yesterday said the building work could be viewed as part of an Iranian campaign against the Gulf states, which had included threats to close the Strait of Hormuz if Iran was attacked.

The US, concerned about Iran’s nuclear programme, has said all options are open in dealing with any threat, including a military response.

“They think that the US is pressuring the Gulf,” Dr Huwaidin said, but the fact was that the Gulf countries had resisted pressure and continued to urge Iran to co-operate with international efforts to defuse the crisis over its nuclear programme.

“The Gulf countries never pressured Iran. Iran is meeting the good deeds with bad actions.”

He said that given Iran’s stand-off with the US, the Islamic republic would need more than just police stations in the strategically located islands. “They are using the islands to manage the crisis over their nuclear programme.”

The UAE has maintained diplomatic and economic ties with Iran, which has consistently ignored or rejected the Emirates’ attempts to resolve the dispute. The most recent Iranian rejection came in May when the country’s foreign ministry spokesman refused to countenance dealing with international intermediaries to help the two countries to reach a settlement. The statement followed a Russian offer to a delegation from the FNC to work on convincing Iran to acknowledge the dispute, which Iran has often characterised as “a misunderstanding”, according to FNC officials.

During a visit to Cairo this year, Abdul Aziz al Ghurair, the FNC Speaker, said the UAE would not be pushed into severing ties with Iran over the disputed islands and would continue to pursue a diplomatic solution. Mr Ghurair has garnered international support for the UAE’s right to the islands during a series of visits to a number of countries.

In May, in the first such statement made by a senior Russian official, Sergey Mironov, the chairman of the Russian Council of Federation, urged Iran’s withdrawal from the islands.

mhabboush@thenational.ae