By IANS,
Abu Dhabi : The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has officially documented to the United Nations its protest against Iran’s action of opening of two offices in UAE’s occupied island of Abu Musa.
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, this Gulf nation referred to an Iranian state television announcement that Tehran had set up two offices for ship registration and maritime rescue on UAE’s Abu Musa island, which have been under Iranian occupation since 1971, the state-run Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported.
The letter, submitted Thursday, reiterated UAE’s 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 also 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.
Earlier this month, the UAE had issued a statement calling on Iran to immediately remove the administrative offices set up at the island.
It also urged all parliaments across the world to back the UAE in its legitimate sovereignty over the three occupied islands of Greater and Lesser Tunbs and Abu Mousa.
The three islands lie in the eastern Arabian Gulf, around 12 km from each other, and are part of a six-island archipelago near the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz.