DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran summoned Russia’s cost d’affaires after Moscow and Arab international locations launched a joint assertion earlier this week difficult Iran’s declare to disputed islands within the Persian Gulf, state media reported Sunday.
Iran‘s official IRNA news agency said the Russian envoy was summoned on Saturday and handed a note to deliver to Moscow in which Tehran protested the statement the 6th Arab-Russian Cooperation Forum issued in Morocco that called for a peaceful solution to resolve the conflict between Iran and the United Arab Emirates over the islands.
Earlier on Saturday, Iran’s overseas minister Hossein Amirabdollahian advised his Russian counterpart over the telephone that “respecting countries’ sovereignty and integrity is among basic principles in the ties between nations,” IRNA mentioned in a separate report.
This marked the second time this yr that Iran has referred to as for a Russian envoy in protest over feedback on the disputed islands. Tehran summoned the Russian ambassador in July over the same assertion.
The diplomatic spat is a uncommon incidence between the 2 international locations which have deepened their ties since Moscow invaded Ukraine, with Iran supplying Russia with killer drones which have been used to devastating impact there. Both international locations have additionally been sturdy backers of President Bashar Assad in Syria’s civil struggle.
In 2022, Iran summoned China’s envoy over the same joint assertion with Arab nations.
Iran took management of the three islands of Abu Musa, the Greater Tunb and the Lesser Tunb after British forces withdrew in 1971. It considers them an “inseparable” a part of its territory. The UAE additionally claims the three islands and has lengthy pressed for a negotiated answer.
The three islands dominate the strategy to the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway via which about one-fifth of the world’s oil provide passes.
Iran says the islands have been a part of Persian states from antiquity up till they have been occupied by the British within the early twentieth century. It additionally says an settlement reached with Sharjah, one of many UAE’s seven emirates, provides it the proper to manage Abu Musa and station troops there.
There isn’t any such settlement on the opposite two islands. The UAE says they belonged to the emirate of Ras al-Khaimah till Iran seized them by power days earlier than the Emirati federation was fashioned.
