Abu Dhabi: Iran yesterday denied reports that it warned of cutting diplomatic ties with the UAE over the occupied islands of Abu Musa, Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb.
“An informed source in the Iranian Foreign Ministry denied the statement attributed to spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast regarding the three islands,” WAM reported yesterday.
WAM added the clarification was published on many Iranian media including the Iranian official news agency Irna and Iran’s radio and TV.
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast was quoted by AFP on Tuesday as telling the parliamentary news website icana.ir, “If making such anti-Iranian claims [to the UAE’s occupied islands] reaches a level that national interests lie in reducing or severing political ties... [such a move] will be implemented after consultations with experts,”
The UAE maintaining these “baseless claims will have a negative effect on bilateral relations”, Mehmanparast reportedly said.
Iran occupied the islands of Abu Musa, Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb, which lie in the strategic Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf, in 1971 when colonial-era Britain withdrew from the UAE.
While welcoming the clarification by the Iranian Foreign Ministry, analysts warned the “mature and self-assured” UAE should not be taken for granted.
Dr Abdul Rahim Al Shaheen, associate professor of political science and member of the Federal National Council, said provocative acts had always come from Iran. “Iran occupied the three islands on the eve of the UAE’s independence in December 1971 and the issue has been a point of contention between the two countries ever since, with the Iranian governments unwilling to reach a peaceful solution to the dispute.”
Unlike Iranian officials, Dr Al Shaheen said, the UAE leaders, including Shaikh Zayed, the nation’s founder, have repeatedly urged successive Iranian governments to end the dispute through direct negotiations, or international arbitration. They also welcomed any brokered talks These calls, however, have been consistently turned down by Iranian officials.
Advising the world and especially Iran to take the UAE more seriously, Dr Abdul Khaleq Abdullah, professor of political science at UAE University, said the mature and self-assured UAE should not be taken for granted and is no longer a state anyone messes with any more.
“The UAE at 40 is no longer the small, young and vulnerable country that it was in 1971. It is rather an economic and financial powerhouse, a rising military actor, a regional hub and a global brand that rubs shoulders with big powers and has friends and allies all over the planet.”
