Three strategic islands located in the east of the Persian Gulf, and while the UAE says it is part of its territory and demands that Iran - which has controlled it since 1971 - to return them, Tehran affirms that its ownership of the islands is "not subject to discussion."
Basic Information
1- Geographical location
- Greater Tunb Island: Its area is approximately nine square kilometers, and it is located east of the Arabian Gulf near the Strait of Hormuz, and is about 30 km away from the Emirate of Ras al-Khaimah, which the island belonged to before the founding of the United Arab Emirates.
Iran seized it on November 30, 1971, days after the British colonial forces withdrew from it, and two days before the UAE's independence from Britain, and it was inhabited at that time by about 300 people who lived by fishing and grazing livestock.
The Lesser Tunb Island: It has a sandy and rocky, arid land where wild and marine birds breed, and there is no available drinking water. Therefore, it included one family when Iran seized it with the Greater Tunb, and at that time it belonged to the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah.
Lesser Tunb is located about 12.8 kilometers west of the Greater Tunb Island. It is triangular in shape and has an area of about 2 square kilometers.
Abu Musa Island: It is the largest of the three islands, with an area of 20 square kilometers, twenty kilometers away from Greater Tunb, and located about 43 km from the coast of the Emirates, and 67 km from the Iranian coast amid the corridor of oil tankers exported from the Arab Gulf to the world. When it was occupied, it was inhabited by about a thousand Emirati citizens working in the fishing industry.
This island is distinguished by its deep waters suitable for docking, and there is also the iron oxide mineral that the German company Funkhaus extracted and exported to Germany in 1906, which worried Britain, which saw the German presence in the region as a threat to its interests, so it interfered with the ruler of Sharjah, who stopped the factory In 1907.
2- Strategic Importance
Despite the small area of the three islands, their strategic and economic importance is very large and is the cause of conflict over them, as they are located in a sensitive area of the Arabian Gulf and there are safe corridors near them for maritime navigation in it.
The islands overlook the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 40% of global oil production passes daily, and connects the Gulf of Oman with the Persian Gulf, the main crossing to the Indian Ocean.
Whoever controls these islands controls the water traffic in the Arabian Gulf.
Due to this distinguished geographical location, the islands are suitable for military use.
This makes it a suitable center for military control over ships crossing the Arabian Gulf. As for its coasts, it can be used as a shelter for submarines and safe landing bases, as its waters are deep and suitable for establishing military installations.
Economically speaking, these islands are rich in important natural resources, such as: petroleum, red iron oxide, iron sulfate, and sulfur.
In 1972, the ruler of Sharjah at the time, Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, announced the discovery of oil in the territorial waters of Abu Musa Island, and the Sharjah government granted a US company concessions to explore for oil on the island, and the first shipment of it was exported in 1974, and production levels subsequently decreased, but still The presence of oil reserves in the region is possible.
Origin and roots
The three islands were covered by the protection treaty signed in 1819 between the rulers of the Gulf and Britain, and despite that, they remained a subject of interest to Iran, which - as the largest regional power - tried to occupy it in 1904, 1923 and 1963, but failed in its attempts, and then soon the hopes of controlling it returned When Britain announced its withdrawal from the region in 1968.
After Iran's failure to subjugate Bahrain, whose residents voted in a referendum in 1970 to remain independent, the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi - concern about the upcoming union between the Gulf emirates, and who wanted to play the role of a "Gulf policeman" who protects Western interests in it - focused his attention on the three islands He announced that he intended to occupy it, and was helped by silence and perhaps the encouragement of the great powers.
Pahlavi first tried to persuade the ruler of Ras al-Khaimah, Saqr bin Sultan al-Qasimi, to buy the Greater Tunb and the Lesser Tunb or rent them to Iran, but his attempts were met with categorical refusal.
As for the ruler of Sharjah, Khalid Al-Qasimi, he agreed - after he had failed to obtain Arab support - to sign a memorandum of understanding with Iran under British auspices in 1971, and the agreement stipulated the sharing of sovereignty over Abu Musa Island (the northern part of Iran and the southern part of Sharjah) and the sharing of its oil revenues, without One of them confessed to the other's claims towards the island.
However, Iran seized control of Greater and Lesser Tunb after it stormed them with military forces on November 30, 1971, which led to the killing of some policemen and five civilians and the displacement of 200 families, according to Emirati sources.
Meanwhile, Tehran deployed military forces in half of Abu Musa Island, pursuant to the agreement signed with the Ruler of Sharjah.
The establishment of the Emirates Federation (consisting of Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Fujairah and Umm al-Quwain) was announced on December 2, 1971, and two months after its appearance, the Emirate of Ras al-Khaimah joined it, thus transforming the Iranian "occupation" of Greater and Lesser Tunb into a national issue that concerns the UAE all of which.
As for Abu Musa Island, the sovereignty-sharing agreement continued until 1992, when the rulers of Iran decided to expand the military use of Abu Musa Island, so they installed anti-ship missiles there and set up a base for the Revolutionary Guard and a naval corps.
Then they began to harass the Arab educational mission and in August 1992 they banned its members from entering the island without an Iranian visa, and forced the crew of their ship called "Al-Khater" - which usually visits the island twice and transports passengers between the UAE mainland and the island - to return to the Emirates.
The Iranians issued warnings to the Emiratis residing on the island that if they left the island for a period of six months, they would not be allowed to return to it, and finally they chose the inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula between expulsion and accepting Iranian nationality, and they also prohibited fishing in the waters of the region without permission from the Iranian authorities.
And between 1992 and 1999 the Iranian government made great strides in the strategic exploitation of the islands, establishing an airport on Abu Musa Island, and operating an air line between it and the Iranian city of Bandar Abbas, then the Iranian Minister of Interior opened an Iranian municipality on the island.
In 2012, Iran announced the establishment of a new governorate called the "Persian Gulf" and made Abu Musa Island its capital after it was affiliated with the "Hormuz Gan" region and its capital Bandar Abbas, while it allowed Iranian tourism companies to organize tourist trips to the three islands, and since the 1990s it has conducted dozens of military naval exercises. And weather in the waters of the region.
The Arab Emirates rejected Iran's "occupation" of its three islands, stressing that its people are among the people of the Emirates and its sovereignty is their sovereignty. It organized a diplomatic campaign against the Iranian step and called on Arab countries, organizations and international bodies to support it in confronting the Iranian "occupation" of its islands, but the ruling of the "fait accompli" remained master The position is in the three islands.
The positions of the parties
, Iran says that it "never gave up its sovereignty" over the three islands during the British presence, and its ownership of the three islands "is not negotiable because it is an integral part of Iranian territory since ancient times." And what it calls "misunderstanding" in this case cannot be It will be settled only by "direct and unconditional negotiations between the two countries," and what is issued by the UAE in this case, "interference in Iranian affairs is totally rejected."
Tehran adds that when it signed the 1971 agreement with Sharjah, there was no state called the "Emirates", and after this state was formed, it accepted all the charters and agreements previously signed and pledged to respect them, including the 1971 agreement signed with Iran, the Shah.
As for the Emirates, it says that the islands are "Emirati belonging to the rule of law and history," and that Iran has abandoned the inheritance of the shah in everything and changed fundamentally and became an Islamic republic with a democratic tendency, except in the issue of the islands. It is neither legitimate nor Islamic. "
Indeed, Abu Dhabi believes that Islamic Iran has been more stringent than the shah’s regime, which accepted in the 1971 agreement the sharing of sovereignty over Abu Musa Island, which Iran vacated after the revolution by “occupying” the entire island in 1992, and that Tehran conducted maneuvers in an area that the UAE considers regional waters. Its islands perpetuate this "occupation", which it likened to Israel's occupation of the Arab lands in Palestine and the Syrian Golan.
It describes Tehran's position that there has been a retreat in the past two decades. Before the Islamic Revolution regime, it was ready for international arbitration, but after it was established, it declared its refusal, as its Ministry of Foreign Affairs says that “there is no possibility of resorting to arbitration to solve the conflict,” as confirmed by former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani. That "referring the case to international courts will not help."
The Emirates inferred to its ownership of the three islands that all British official documents and correspondence stipulate that the British government - from its occupation of the region in the nineteenth century until Iran's "occupation" of the islands in 1971 - acknowledged Arab sovereignty over these islands, as well as the correspondence of the Anglo / Iranian oil company in Abadan 1935 year.
Abu Dhabi unilaterally presented its dispute with Iran to the United Nations, saying that it would avoid confrontation with a neighboring Islamic country, and that its file would remain on the agenda of the Security Council - which was submitted to it in December 1971 - until a "just, comprehensive and lasting settlement" is found. To dispute through "direct dialogue in any of the two countries after agreement on its foundations and framework, or international arbitration," pledging to accept its results.
Tehran has always refused to take the case to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, and it also initially opposed entering into bilateral and direct negotiations with the Emirates, saying that the issue concerned the Emirate of Sharjah only, then changed its position later and the two parties entered into negotiation rounds to solve the issue that began in Abu Dhabi in 1992, but Not hit any success.
And when Tehran accepted mediation by friendly parties to both sides, Syria and Qatar (in 1995) made diplomatic efforts during the 1990s, but all of them ended in failure, the causes of which varied, starting with the different characterization of the two parties to the reality of the problem.
While the Iranian side says that the matter is just a "misunderstanding", the Emirati side describes it as a "real Iranian occupation" of part of its territory.
But the paradox is that the UAE has remained the first trade partner of Iran throughout the decades of conflict. The volume of trade between the two countries - according to their official statistics - reached about $ 6.8 billion in 2012, and its volume in the previous year was $ 9.8 billion, and the decline in it was caused by the imposed international sanctions. Tehran, not the islands dispute.
The vast majority of Iran's trade with the Gulf states passes through the Emirates.
Historical Developments
- 1919: Ras Al Khaimah seceded from Sharjah and shared ownership of the three islands (the Greater and Lesser Tunb of Ras Al Khaimah and Abu Musa Sharjah).
March 1964: Cut off the Iranian fleet occupies Abu Musa island, prompting widespread Arab protests.
1968: Britain announces its intention to withdraw from the Arab coastal emirates in the Gulf, which stimulates Iran to consider possessing the three islands.
November 30, 1971: Iran seizes the islands of Greater and Lesser Tunb and deploys military forces in them two days before the independence of the UAE from Britain.
- December 1971: The UAE includes the islands file on the Security Council’s agenda in search of a "just, comprehensive and lasting settlement" for it.
- March 1980: Iranian President Abul-Hassan Bani-Sadr says that the Gulf states "are linked to the United States and are not independent ... and we do not intend to return the three islands because they are a strategic path that will be in the hands of Washington."
December 1980: The UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs says that his country is seeking peaceful diplomatic means to secure the return of the three islands to its sovereignty.
January 1981: Iranian government spokesman Behzad Nabawi declares that his government has contacted officials in the Emirates and warned them against getting involved in "imperialist conspiracies in the region."
January 1981: The Iranian government informs its Syrian counterpart that the Iranian withdrawal from the islands "will open the door for American intervention to take firm bases there."
- April 14, 1992: Iran completes its control of Abu Musa Island and closes the Emirati police station there, and the UAE considers this an "expulsion of the UAE legitimacy and an unacceptable Iranian occupation."
- August 24, 1992: Iran prevents an Emirati ship carrying citizens from entering Abu Musa Island and forces it to return to the UAE mainland, and the UAE organizes a diplomatic campaign against the Iranian move.
- September 1992: Speaker of the Iranian Shura Council (Parliament) Ali Akbar Nateq-Nouri says that the islands are "Iranian territory according to an agreement signed with the British," and London confirms that this "agreement is alleged and does not exist at all."
- October 1992: The UAE informs the United Nations of its readiness to settle the three islands problem by peaceful means, as stipulated in Article 33 of the Organization's Charter.
September 1993: The League of Arab States declares its support for the UAE in "affirming its sovereignty over the islands and upholding its right to regain them."
April 1993: British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Douglas Hague says that his country does not support the use of force in the Three Islands conflict, but rather calls for it to be dealt with peacefully in accordance with international law.
- September 1993: Tehran announces the operation of an air route linking Bandar Abbas and Abu Musa Island, and the UAE describes the move as "a violation of its sovereignty and contradicts the principles of friendship and good neighborliness."
December 1994: The US State Department says that if dialogue and peaceful efforts fail to resolve the islands issue, the best solution is to take the case to the International Court of Justice, and affirms that it is inappropriate for America to intervene in this issue.
- April 1995: The Supreme Council of the Emirates calls for a "peaceful solution to the issue of the Emirati islands occupied by Iran based on truth and justice through the International Court of Justice."
- April 1996: The Iranian government announces the establishment of an electrical plant on the Greater Tunb Island, and Abu Dhabi considers this a "violation of the rules of international law, and it does not entail any rights for the occupation authority."
- August 1996: Gulf military sources confirm that Iran has installed a group of "Silkworm" missiles on the island of Abu Musa, and talk about Iranian military reinforcements that have been monitored.
- June 1997: Iran's ambassador to the UAE declares his country's readiness to negotiate with the Emirates on "the problems existing between them at any level and at any time."
June 1997: The UAE protests to the United Nations against Iran's construction of a pier on the Greater Tunb Island.
- September 1997: The UAE condemns Iran's conduct of military naval exercises on the "occupied" island of Abu Musa, describing Iran's actions on the island as "null and provocative."
- July 10, 1999: The Qatari Foreign Minister informs his Emirati counterpart of the results of the first meeting of the Gulf Tripartite Committee (Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Oman) charged with ending the Iranian-Emirati conflict.
May 26, 2000: The UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs meets - in a rare step - his Iranian counterpart in Qatar on the sidelines of the Ministerial Meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conference on the Palestinian uprising.
- November 30, 2000: The late President of the UAE, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, calls on Iran to "end its occupation" of the three islands because it "stands as a stumbling block in the way of improving relations between the two countries."
December 1, 2000: Iran reaffirms its ownership of the islands, and says that the UAE’s claim to the islands leads to "exacerbating problems" in the region.
- December 31, 2000: The leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries call on Iran to solve the problem of the UAE islands through international negotiations or arbitration, affirming the UAE's "right" in it and Iran's "occupation" of it.
- February 23, 2001: The Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs declares its readiness to mediate between the UAE and Iran to find a solution to the conflict between them, because it "wants there to be a peaceful settlement between Muslims through dialogue."
- March 18, 2001: Tehran rejects a request made by the Gulf states to raise its dispute with Abu Dhabi to the International Court of Justice, and renews its acceptance of "direct and unconditional negotiations with the Emirates."
March 19, 2001: The UAE protests against Iran's establishment of projects in the three islands, saying that this "is an imposition of an illegal reality and an attempt to perpetuate the occupation of the three islands."
June 2, 2001: The Gulf Cooperation Council condemns Iran's military maneuvers in the islands, describing them as "provocative actions threatening the stability of the Arab Gulf."
Iran criticizes the statement.
- July 23, 2001: Iran and the UAE resume dialogue in Tehran over the islands, on the occasion of a visit by a delegation that includes three of the Emirati president's sons, the first of its kind in ten years.
November 29, 2001: The UAE Parliament calls on Iran to give up the three islands "based on good neighborly ties and common interests between the two countries."
- May 26, 2002: The UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs holds talks in Tehran with the Iranian Foreign Minister, it is likely that they will discuss the three islands file.
December 19, 2005: Gulf Cooperation Council leaders renew their support for the UAE in the issue of islands "under Iranian occupation."
- December 5, 2006: The Secretary-General of the Iranian National Security Council, Ali Larijani, accuses the United States of "creating artificial differences and tensions between the countries of the region and the issue of the islands is one of them."
- December 1, 2007: The UAE says that the islands "occupied by" Iran "are a dear and integral part of our country, and we will spare no effort to restore them and demand their return to national sovereignty."
- February 18, 2008: The Emirati Vice President meets in Tehran with the Iranian President, which is the first visit by an Emirati official of this level since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, but it does not address the issue of the islands.
- March 14, 2008: The Arab Parliamentary Union conference calls - at the conclusion of its work in Erbil, Iraq - for Iran to resolve its dispute with the UAE over the three islands.
May 2008: A delegation from the UAE Parliament visits Russia and asks it to persuade Iran to discuss the status of the three islands, and the Iranian Foreign Ministry calls for "bilateral talks without the need for the intervention of other parties."
May 27, 2008: The UAE renews its assertion that the three islands are "occupied" by Iran, saying that "occupation is an occupation, whether it is by Israel, Iran or any other country."
February 24, 2009: Iranian Interior Minister Sadiq Mahsouli says - in a forum held in Bahrain - that the three islands are "Iranian," describing the dispute over them as a "negotiable misunderstanding."
March 3, 2009: The Council of Arab Foreign Ministers calls on Iran to "end the occupation of the three Emirati islands," affirming the "absolute right of the UAE to full sovereignty over them."
- April 2, 2009: The Egyptian Foreign Ministry says that "the islands are occupied and Iran must abandon them, and we fully support the Emirati position on this issue," and condemns the "Iranian method of superiority."
- March 9, 2010: The foreign ministers of the Gulf states discuss the "Emirati islands occupied by Iran" and call on Tehran to "resolve the issue through direct negotiations or resorting to the International Court of Justice."
- April 21, 2010: The Iranian Foreign Ministry describes statements by the Emirati Foreign Minister in which he compared the status of the three islands to the Israeli occupation of Palestine, as "incorrect and unbalanced."
- April 25, 2010: The UAE Foreign Minister says that Iran's "occupation of the islands" is not only a hindrance to the improvement and development of the Emirati relationship, but it is also a hindrance to Arab-Iranian relations.
- April 11, 2012: Iranian President Ahmadinejad pays a surprise visit to Abu Musa Island, and the UAE condemns the move "in the strongest terms" and summons its ambassador to Tehran for consultations, and sends a message of protest to the United Nations.
- April 13, 2012: The Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs says that "the president's visit to Abu Musa Island is an internal affair that occurred as part of the president's tours in the country's provinces."
- April 15, 2012: An Iranian tourism company announces the organization of fixed cruises to the three islands.
- April 17, 2012: The foreign ministers of the Gulf states declare in a statement of solidarity with Abu Dhabi, describing the Iranian president's visit to Abu Musa as a "flagrant violation of the UAE's sovereignty over its islands."
- April 17, 2012: The United States criticizes the Iranian president's visit to Abu Musa Island, and calls on Tehran to "respond to the UAE initiative" for dialogue and accept international arbitration as a solution to the islands issue.
- April 18, 2012: Tehran accuses the Gulf states of interfering in its internal affairs after the Gulf Cooperation Council described the Iranian president's visit to Abu Musa Island as a "provocative act."
- April 25, 2012: Iran announces the deployment of offensive and defensive missile systems in the three islands, stressing that it will not allow "any enemy" to enter them, and describing the UAE's talk about it as a "rejected order."
- April 25, 2012: The UAE announces that the Peninsula Shield forces (joint Gulf forces) will conduct maneuvers on Emirati territory with the slogan "Al-Wafa Islands", in reference to the three islands.
- May 31, 2012: The commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards visits the three islands as "strategic and sensitive territory" of Iran.
It is the first visit to the islands at this high military level.
- 27 June 2012: US President Barack Obama declares his support for the UAE in the issue of the Three Islands, and calls for a "peaceful solution" to the conflict.
- October 10, 2012: The Iranian Foreign Ministry retracts statements by its spokesman threatening to reduce diplomatic relations with the UAE due to the dispute over the islands.
- December 1, 2012: The President of the UAE renews his call on the Iranian government to "sit at the dialogue table and accept international arbitration" to solve the islands issue.
- December 2, 2012: UAE President Khalifa bin Zayed calls - on the occasion of his country's National Day - Iran for dialogue and acceptance of international arbitration for a solution to the three islands issue "in a way that consolidates security and stability."
- December 22, 2012: The Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council affirms that "the council’s position on Iran's occupation of the three Emirati islands is clear and consistent, as it is an Iranian occupation of Gulf islands."
- February 20, 2013: The Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee says that "all measures and procedures applied in the three islands have always been carried out on the basis of the principle of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s sovereignty over its territory ... and what the UAE issues in this regard is an interference in our affairs that we completely reject." .
- February 21, 2013: The UAE Parliament denounces the contents of the Iranian Shura Council’s statement regarding the three disputed islands between the two countries, and says that it "comes in the context of allegations that we reject."
May 27, 2013: The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps concludes comprehensive maneuvers in the Gulf under the title "tight defense" aimed at "defending" the three islands.