Dubai, Sep 3 (IANS) The ministerial council of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has condemned Iran’s action of opening two administrative offices in the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) island of Abu Musa near the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz.

The council, in the course of the GCC ministerial meeting that concluded in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, late Tuesday night, has urged urged Iran to withdraw those illegal structures and to respect the UAE’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, the state-run Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported.

Apart from the UAE, the GCC includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

According to the report, the GCC council reaffirmed its support to UAE’s sovereignty over its three islands of Greater and Lesser Tunbs and Abu Musa, their territorial waters, air spaces, continental shelf and their economic zones, all of which the council regarded as integral parts of the UAE.

Iran had, in early August, opened two offices for ship registration and maritime rescue on the Abu Musa island, which have been under Iranian occupation since 1971.

The GCC council was of the view that Iran has failed to achieve any positive result that could have led to a peaceful solution of the issue of the three islands to help boost security and stability in the region.

Calling for peaceful means so that the UAE retained its rights over the three islands, it also urged Iran to listen to the UAE’s sincere calls and efforts to resolve the issue through direct negotiations or international arbitration at the International Court of Justice.

The UAE had earlier lodged its official protest to the United Nations over Iran’s action.

In a letter delivered to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon by Anwar Othman Al-Barout, charge d’affaires of the UAE mission in the UN, the UAE reiterated its protest over the illegal Iranian action and considered it as a stark violation of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed in 1971 between the two countries on legal and administrative authority on sovereignty of the island.

“Iran’s illegitimate actions on the Abu Musa island violate the provisions of the memorandum and are a bid by Iran to change the legal status on the island,” the letter said.

It added that the MoU did not give Iran sovereignty over the island or even parts of it, nor did it give Iran the right to take any security measures on it.

“Iran has been violating the provisions of the memorandum ever since 1980,” the letter stated.

It called upon Tehran to promptly revoke any and all actions that violate the 1971 MoU so that friendly relations between the two countries could be promoted.

The UAE has also urged all parliaments across the world to back it in its legitimate sovereignty over the three occupied islands.

The three islands lie in the eastern Arabian Gulf, 12 km from each other, and are part of a six-island archipelago near the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz.

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