Iran Reprimands Russia's Representative

Tehran is not happy with the Kremlin's statement on disputed islands in the Persian Gulf.

Iran's Foreign Ministry summoned Russia's Charge d'Affaires and strongly protested to him over Moscow's stance on the ownership of the Abu Musa, Little Tunb and Big Tunb islands in the Persian Gulf, the website of the country's foreign ministry reported, according to The Moscow Times.

This comes days after the sixth session of the Russian-Arab Cooperation Forum in Morocco adopted a joint statement reaffirming support for efforts to resolve peacefully the dispute over the three islands between Iran and the UAE.

Specifically, the declaration said the issue should be resolved "in accordance with the principles of international law and the UN Charter, including through bilateral negotiations or appeals to the UN International Court of Justice if the parties so decide."

Tehran asserted Iran's "eternal" sovereignty over the islands and emphasised that it rejected any claim to them as unacceptable. The Russian Charge d'Affaires at the Iranian Foreign Ministry pointed to the need to respect the territorial integrity of countries, stressing that this is a recognised and basic principle of relations between nations. In response, the Russian Chargé d'Affaires promised to convey the protest to the Russian authorities promptly.

Separately, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian called the islands "an inseparable part of Iran's territorial integrity" in a telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on December 22. "Tehran will not compromise with any side on the issue of respecting territorial integrity and sovereignty," he added.

This is not the first such case between Russia and Iran, which Moscow considers a key ally in the Middle East. In July, the Russian side supported a similar position on the disputed islands in a statement of the Russia-Gulf Cooperation Council strategic dialogue.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry then told Ambassador Aleksey Dedov that the Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb and Abu Musa "belong to Iran forever" and urged Russia to change its position on the issue. The islands are strategically important as they are close to the Strait of Hormuz, through which one in five barrels of oil in the world is exported.