Ambassador Eshagh Alhabib, the Iranian envoy to the Security Council, also affirmed that holding constructive discussions with the UAE would result in improving the bilateral ties in various sectors.
Alhabib in his address to the chairman, Susan Rice, was responding, late on Thursday, to two letters addressed by the Saudi delegate to the UN on April 13th, regarding the recent visit by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the Iranian-occupied UAE island of Abu Moussa, and "other issues" related to it and two other UAE islands, Greater and Lesser Tunbs, that have been also occupied by the Iranians.
Although the Iranian envoy claimed anew that these islands "were integral and eternal parts of the Iranian territory," he stressed "importance of the brotherly and good-neighborly relations that exist between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the neighboring countries" in the Gulf.
Tehran continues to believe that constructive negotiations between the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the relevant officials of the UAE will lead to the further expansion of relations in various fields and will help to remove any misunderstanding that may arise with regard to implementation of the arrangements emanating from the documents exchanged in 1971 on this issue, he stated.
He also argued that Ahmadinejad’s visit "and all other measures taken by the Iranian authorities on those Iranian islands are fully based on the sovereign rights of Iran and the principle of its territorial integrity." UAE the other member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have condemned in strongest terms the Iranian president recent visit to Abu Moussa.
The GCC has stood firmly alongside Abu Dhabi in its quest to end Iran’s occupation of the three islands in the Gulf.
