7 June 2004

Scholar Criticizes UAE-Fabricated Dispute against Iran

TEHRAN (IRNA) -- A well-known scholar has recently criticized the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for an ongoing dispute it has fabricated against Iran, stressing that "what is actually there is a one-sided claim to the Iranian territories by Abu Dhabi."

Professor of Geopolitics and Chairman of Urosevic Research Foundation Pirouz Mojtahed-Zadeh wrote a letter to EU High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana on a resolution passed recently by the European Union (EU) and Persian Gulf Cooperation Council at the end of a joint meeting. Mojtahed-Zadeh rejected the remarks of Solana's spokesman, Christina Gallach that "the EU-(P)GCC resolution does not take sides and does not mean EU's interference in national affairs of either country" as being "of course, not true."

The spokesman was speaking to members of an international press corps at the end of the meeting.

"The resolution in question both interferes in Iran's internal affairs and takes sides with the United Arab Emirates by recognizing its claim that it has territorial disputes with Iran.

"Considering that all countries of the world (except for the former Baath regime of Iraq) have declared impartiality in the United Arab Emirate's territorial agitation against Iran, to speak of the necessity of solving the disputes between the two sides is to officially recognize the existence of a territorial dispute between Iran and the UAE," he said.

"The issue of a communiqué by the European Union in association with the (Persian) Gulf Cooperation Council that would refer to the existence of such a dispute between the two countries, which is exactly the impression that Abu Dhabi wants to create, will mean that the EU has lost its impartiality and has sided with Abu Dhabi's position," the scholar said.

Pointing to the advices of third parties for an urgent resolution of the dispute by UAE and Iran, he said it can only be addressed to the United Arab Emirates, urging it to bring to an urgent end the "dispute" it has fabricated against Iran.

"Abu Dhabi's efforts to politicize and internationalize its claim on the Iranian territories can only mean that it is unilaterally demanding that this so-called `dispute' be referred to an international arbitration tribunal, and any reference to such a demand by the EU can only mean an official endorsement of Abu Dhabi's one-sided demand," Mojtahed-Zadeh added. He said UAE officials have declined five times to talk with Iranians, adding that "in such a situation, any EU endorsement of the need for direct negotiations yet again will only support the deceptive facade that Abu Dhabi is creating and will do away with EU's impartiality in that issue."

He once again stressed that Abu Dhabi's claim to the Iranian islands -- the Lesser and Greater Tunbs and Abu Musa -- are illegal since the islands were returned to Iran on November 30, 1971 through a legal process, including the signing of a memorandum of understanding before the state of the United Arab Emirates was created.

"Based on international law and regulations, Abu Dhabi's claim on the islands returned to Iran through a legal process before the formation of the UAE state constitutes an illegal act," he stated.