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Iran Reiterates Stance on Disputed Islands with UAE
Iran has called on Arab countries to encourage the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to hold direct talks with Iran without preconditions over three disputed islands in the Persian Gulf, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported Friday.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said that Iran still adheres to the principles of good neighborliness and respects the territorial integrity and national sovereignty of others.
His remarks came in response to a resolution adopted by the just-concluded Arab summit in the Jordanian capital Amman backing UAE claim over the three islands.
The resolution is "one-sided and totally biased," Asefi said.
The three islands, Abu Musa, Greater and Lesser Tunb, near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, have been controlled by Iran since British withdrawal from the region in 1971. But the UAE also claims sovereignty over the islands.
The spokesman reiterated that Iran considers any "unprincipled" stances against its right of sovereignty as intervention in its internal affairs.
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