“Iran has never negotiated over its trio islands, as it sees this issue which falls under our country's territorial integrity as basically non-negotiable,” Rapporteur of the parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Seyed Hossein Naqavi Hosseini told FNA on Monday.
“The three islands of Abu Musa, the Greater Tunb and the Lesser Tunb are inseparable parts of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s soil,” the senior lawmaker stressed.
The US-based Defense News alleged in a recent report that Iran and the United Arab Emirates have reached an agreement on the three disputed islands near the Strait of Hormuz.
The American media outlet quoted unnamed sources in the UAE as saying that Iranian and UAE officials have engaged in secretive talks with the help of the Omani government over the past six months. “A deal has been reached and finalized on the Greater and Lesser Tunbs,” the source said. “For now, two of the three islands are to return to the UAE, while the final agreement for Abu Musa is being ironed out.”
Naqavi Hosseini slammed the US media outlet for releasing "a completely forged and untrue story", saying that the West is seeking to trouble Iran's good and improving relations with other Persian Gulf littoral states.
Iranian officials have on many occasions rejected the claims raised by the UAE on the three Iranian islands, underlining that such statements are baseless and unfounded.
International documents clearly show that the three islands of the Greater Tunb, the Lesser Tunb and Abu Musa which were historically owned by Iran, temporarily fell to British control in 1903. The islands were returned to Iran based on an agreement in 1971 before the UAE was born.
Iran has repeatedly declared that its ownership of the three islands is unquestionable.
Under international law, no state can defy any agreement, which came into being before its establishment.
Yet, the UAE continues to make territorial claims against the Islamic Republic despite historical evidence and international regulations.
