United We Stand

Arab Countries Support the United Arab Emirates in seeking to enforce their sovereign rights to remove Iran from  the Tunbs Islands and Abu Musa.

 

 

At long last, we can end the arguments over who has the legitimate sovereign rights to the Tunb Islands and Abu Musa in the Arabian Gulf.

 

Representatives from 22 Arab nations have issued a statement, supporting the United Arab Emirates’ claim that the Greater and Less Tunb Islands belong to Ras Al Khaimah and Abu Musa to Sharjah - not to Iran, which has illegally occupied all three for almost 40 years.

 

This statement, by The Interim Arab Parliamentary Union, is a clear victory for the rule of law, which Iran subverted by using military force to take control of the islands in 1971.  It builds on a similar statement, issued in 2001 by the member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council - Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and the United Arab Emirates – that affirmed the United Arab Emirate’s sovereignty over the islands and declared Iran’s claims on them to be “null and void.”

 

Beyond that, the latest statement represents another effort by peaceful nations to stand against Iran and its acts of impunity with regard to neighbors in the region.

 

It also draws into focus Iran’s unwillingness to negotiate the return of the islands to their rightful owners, ignoring pleas from the Emirates to end the dispute through a civil dialogue.

 

As Dr. Christian Koch, Director of International Studies at the Gulf Research Center in the United Arab Emirates told the website, The Media Line, “Iran has refused to engage in a substantive dialogue with the UAE including having the issue referred to the International Court of Justice. What is particularly offensive to the UAE is that Iran regularly refers to the territorial dispute as a ‘misunderstanding’, implying that the UAE authorities are simply not sophisticated enough to understand the matter.”

 

I believe that all citizens of Ras Al Khaimah, Sharjah and other Emirates are sophisticated enough to recognize thuggery and oppression when they see it.  Now, representatives of 22 other Arab states also see it.

 

The time has come for Iran to see it, as well.  

 

His Highness Sheikh Khalid bin Saqr Al Qasimi
Crown Prince and Deputy Ruler
Ras Al Khaimah