GCC states denounce Iran over offices on disputed island
Washington, 18 August (IranVNC)— Persian Gulf states criticized Iran on Saturday for establishing two maritime offices on the contested island of Abu Musa, two days after the United Arab Emirates [UAE] protested against the move.
By: IranVNC
Published: Monday, August 18, 2008
10:30GMT—6:30AM/EST
GCC – IRAN – ABU MUSA
Washington, 18 August (IranVNC)— Persian Gulf states criticized Iran on Saturday for establishing two maritime offices on the contested island of Abu Musa, two days after the United Arab Emirates [UAE] protested against the move.
Abdurrahman al-Attiyah, Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council [GCC], “strongly denounced Iran’s opening of two administrative offices on Abu Musa island, which belongs to the UAE and is occupied by Iran,” AFP reports.
The offices in question are a marine rescue center and a registration office for ships and sailors.
The Persian Gulf islands of Abu Musa, the Lesser and the Greater Tunbs are controlled by Iran, but the UAE claims sovereignty over them, based on a 1971 Memorandum of Understanding.
The GCC – a political and economic alliance composed of Bahrain, Saudia Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the UAE – has in the past supported Abu Dhabi’s claim to the islands.
The GCC statement called on Iran to remove the offices, calling the Iranian move an “illegitimate action on an indivisible part of the UAE.”
Arab League Secretary General Amr Musa also expressed concern on Saturday over the building of the two marine offices on Abu Musa, and echoed the UAE’s demands on 14 August for direct negotiations or international arbitration, the Abu Dhabi-based The National Newspaper reports.
The UAE said on Thursday that it had summoned Iran’s charge d’affaires to receive a formal protest after Iran’s state television announced the opening of the two offices.
Sources: Agence France-Presse, The National Newspaper
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