Iran’s Sovereignty over the Iranian Islands and the Rejection of UAE’s Claims based on Legal Documents

A study of Iran’s sea borders and the geographical situation of Iranian coasts and islands in the Persian Gulf region indicates that, because of its vast lands along the Persian Gulf, Iran owns the vastest coastal areas of this waterway. Moreover, it has sovereignty over some of its valuable islands at the mouth of the Persian Gulf and in the Strait of Hormuz. However, the United Arab Emirates has always tried to damage Iran’s sovereignty over a part of these Iranian islands by claiming that their sovereignty belongs to it. The historical study of such claims reveals that, since the emergence of the first great Iranian Empires, Iran has always ruled this waterway; however, after the presence of Britain in the region and its competition with Russia in 1903, some of the Iranian islands were illegally occupied by this government, and a number of them were also placed under the rule of al-Qasimi Skeikhs of Sharjah, which was not acceptable to the Iranian government. Upon announcing Britain’s deserting the Persian Gulf and Iran’s withdrawing its claim as to its ownership of Bahrain in 29 December 1971, based on an agreement between Iran and Sharjah, it was decided to return the two Greater and Lesser Tunbs to Iran and renew Iran’s sovereignty over Abu Musa Island. From that date until 1992, Iran’s sovereignty over these islands was not opposed by the United Arab Emirates or any other country. The study of UAE’s legal claims indicates that none of them can function as legitimate arguments for its sovereignty over these islands. Nevertheless, several legal and political proofs, the historical background of the region, and the geographical situation of the Persian Gulf confirm Iran’s territorial sovereignty over the Iranian islands.