Iran, UAE Close to Deal on Three Islands - Report

Defense News reported today that Iran and the United Arab Emirates are close to reaching a deal on the three islands of Abu Musa and Greater and Lesser Tunbs. Both countries maintain historical claim over the islands, strategically situated at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, close to the Strait of Hormuz

The islands came under the Iranian control upon the departure of the British from the Gulf in 1971. Then the Shah’s government agreed to drop Iran’s long-standing claim over Bahrain in return for the islands. A memorandum of understanding was agreed upon by Iran, the British, and the Trucial States, which included the present-day UAE. Iran occupied the islands two days prior to the British departure from the Gulf.

The Emiratis claim that the agreement with the British was signed before the formation of their country and hence not valid. On Abu Musa, the agreement called for joint administration of the island with Sharjah, now part of UAE. But Iran has been administering the island on its own.  

Defense News, referencing sources close to the negotiations, reports that a deal for the return of the islands to the UAE was laid out during the recent visit of UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah to Tehran, and a response was presented during last week’s return visit by his Iranian counterpart, Javad Zarif.

Theodore Karasik, director of research and development at the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis (INEGMA), said the two countries are on the verge of a breakthrough.

“Sheikh Abdullah’s visit to Tehran focused on the islands issue, and the Iranian side reacted positively,” Karasik said. “Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif quickly came to Abu Dhabi to meet with (UAE) President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan and meet with other senior leaders to further cement a workable agreement for the transfer of the islands to the UAE while Iran retains the seabed rights.” (Defense News, 10 December)

However, Zarif has publicly insisted that Iran is only ready to discuss “misunderstandings” surrounding the implementation of 1971 memorandum of understanding over Abu Musa. Some hardline politicians in Iran though have started accusing Zarif of betraying his country without mentioning the three islands. UAE’s Sheikh Khalifa is invited to visit Iran. It is expected that the visit would only take place if an important announcement on the three islands were planned.

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File photo: The three islands and the Persian Gulf. (U.S. Library of Congress/VOA)  

Arab League Summit Calls for an End to Iran’s ‘Occupation’ of Three Islands

The 24th Arab League Summit released on Tuesday its Doha Declaration, containing strong condemnation of the Iran’s “continued perpetuating of its occupation of the three UAE three islands in violation of the sovereignty of the United Arab Emirates.” (The Gulf News, 27 March)

The UAE has claims on the three islands of Abu Musa and the Greater and Lesser Tunbs in the Persian Gulf. The UAE believes that the 1971 agreement between Britain and Iran to return the Iranian sovereignty to the islands is void. It claims the islands belonged to the former emirates that later united to establish the UAE after the Iranian-British agreement and the new entity was not a signatory to that agreement, even though Sharjah and Ras al-Khaimah had ceded the control of the islands to Iran.

The Iranian government under the Shah signed the agreement with the British and took over the control of the three islands in lieu of its agreement to recognize the independence of Bahrain that it always considered as one of its provinces. In addition, Iran has historic claims to the islands.

If the Iranian-British agreement of 1971 were nullified, then Iran’s acceptance of Bahraini independence would also be voided, requiring a new agreement to decide the fate of Bahrain.

In its statement, the Arab League emphasized its support for peaceful means and measures taken by the UAE to restore its sovereignty over the three islands.

Map: the three islands of Abu Musa and Greater and Lesser Tunbs in the Persian Gulf (VOA)

Iran Designates Abu Musa “Special Tourist Zone”

Move Expected to Increase Tensions with UAE

Iran’s cabinet today designated Abu Musa Island as “Special Tourist Zone.” The government will facilitate low-cost tours of the island by Iranian and foreign tourists, Fars News reported. The move came a week after President Ahmadinejad’s visit to the island and the ensuing UAE’s protest over the visit, and is expected to further increase tensions between the two countries.

Britain handed over the control of Abu Musa and Greater and Lesser Tunb islands to Iran when it moved out of the Persian Gulf in 1971, and in return the Iranian government dropped its historic claim over Bahrain. But soon after its formation, the UAE claimed ownership of the islands. Yesterday, the UAE foreign minister said his country’s dispute with Iran over the three islands could threaten the global security and today the GCC countries are meeting in Riyadh to strategize a common response to Iran.

UAE and the Three Islands

The Three Islands

Strait of Hormuz . Persian Gulf

To the north is Iran's Qeshm Island; to the east is the UAE

On Sunday, the UAE foreign minster, Sheikh Abdullah, called on Iran to end the “occupation” of the three islands of the Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb and Abu Musa. Last week, the Emirati foreign minister had linked Iran’s ownership of the three Persian Gulf islands to Israel’s occupation of Palestinian lands.

The controversy over the three islands goes back to early 1970s when the British were pulling out of the Persian Gulf. They put pressure on the shah’s government to renounce Iran’s historical claim over Bahrain in return for the three islands, which also had long been claimed by Iran. Shah agreed and Iran occupied the three islands.

Shah's renunciation of Iran’s claims over Bahrain happened when Bahrain became part of the Federation of Arab Emirates (FAE). In return, the FAE (which included today’s UAE plus Bahrain and Qatar) accepted Iran’s sovereignty over the three islands. In 1971, Bahrain reneged on its membership at FAE and the newly formed UAE later reneged on recognition of Iran’s sovereignty over the islands. Shah’s government recognized Bahrain’s independence, but did not get UAE’s recognition of Iran’s sovereignty over the islands.

Facing the claim by UAE over the three islands, any agreement by the shah’s government to recognize Bahrain in return for the three islands could now be challenged by Tehran. Bahrain and the Trucial States, the predecessor of UAE, did not negotiate with the shah in good faith and the results of those negotiations could now technically be considered null and void.

Mottaki Arrives in Bahrain

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki arrived in Manama last night and was welcomed by Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid. Mottaki will take part in the first meeting of Iran-Bahrain cooperation commission.

Iranian-Bahraini relations faced a major crisis when Hossein Shariatmadari, the editor of Iran’s influential daily Keyhan, reiterated a long-standing popular Iranian claim over Bahrain. The government has distanced itself from Shariatmadari’s call for Bahrain’s return to Iran.

The Shah’s government had renounced Iran’s claim over Bahrain in 1971 in return for the ownership of three islands of Abu Musa and Greater and Lesser Tombs, now claimed by UAE.

New Oil Pipeline To Detour Hormuz

Trans-Arabia Pipeline

DEBKA-Net Weekly reports that Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE, Oman and Yemen have launched a vast Trans-Arabia Oil Pipeline project. The overland pipeline will bypass the Straits of Hormuz, ending Iran’s strategic control of the Persian Gulf waterways.

The first stage of the Trans-Arabia pipeline will link Saudi Aramco oil terminal at Ras Tannura on Persian Gulf, Yemen’s Mukallah oil port on Gulf of Aden, UAE port of Al Fujairah on Arabian Sea, Oman’s port of Muscat, and Saudi Red Sea port of Yanbu. The construction will start in November 2007. Saudi Arabia and other participating members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) will provide the $6 billion investment required to complete the first stage.

Saudi Arabia will provide a new 35,000-strong security force to protect the pipeline against terrorist and foreign attacks. The first 5,000 recruits are reportedly in training.

DEBKA-Net Weekly reports that in the second stage, the Trans-Arabia pipeline will carry South Iraqi oil crossing the Iraqi desert directly into Saudi Arabia, bypassing Shatt Al-Arab. The construction of this stage will start in early 2009. Iran, on its part, has started negotiations with the current Iraqi government to build a pipeline that would carry 200,000 barrels a day of Iraqi crude refineries in Iran.

DEBKA-Net Weekly reports that Kuwait and Qatar are the two GCC members that will not participate in the project. Both countries are involved in building a gas pipeline network which has highest priority for them.

The five pipeline branches are planned as follow:

Pipeline #1: Ras Tannuna on Saudi eastern coast to Al Fujairah in UAE, also collecting crude from Abu Dhabi’s Habashan oil fields. The work will start in November. It will be a 48-inch pipeline running for 350 kilometer with a capacity of 1.5 million bpd.
Pipeline #2: Linking Ras Tannuna to Muscat, Oman.
Pipeline #3: Linking Ras Tannuna through Hadhramouth fields and onto Mukalla port in Yemen’s Gulf of Aden.
Pipeline #4: Linking Ras Tannuna-UAE pipeline onto Mukalla port in Yemen.
Pipeline #5: Linking Ras Tannuna to Saudi’s Red Sea port of Yanbu. This line will bypass two older ones in the same area.

For security reasons, large sections of the pipeline will be built underground. The participating countries will also add 4 million bpd to their total crude production.

News from Iran

The Iranian government’s gasoline rationing and the reports of the decision’s aftermath dominated the coverage in the Iranian media. Long lines were formed at gas stations throughout the country and a dozen stations were burned and destroyed. Tehran’s police chief complained the government had kept the police in dark as to when the rationing was to take effect which resulted in police absence at the scene when the stations came under attack. On the nuclear front, the Iranian president said the country was unfazed by threat of new sanctions and will continue to develop its nuclear program. In regional news, Iran denied any involvement in abducting and killing five US soldiers last January in Karbala as alleged by the US military in Iraq. Iran launched a 24-hour English-language TV news channel, called Press TV.

The Gasoline Rationing

· Iran’s Oil Ministry announced the rationing nationwide of gasoline for the motorists; immediately after the announcement long lines were formed at gasoline stations and several stations were burned and destroyed; the suddenness of the announcement caused chaos throughout the country; Tehran police chief Brig. Gen. Esmail Ahmadi Moqadam said the Oil Ministry failed to notify him when the rationing was going to take effect; Moqadam said the announcement took the police off guard and they could not prevent the destruction and the burning; Tehran’s deputy mayor said the city did not have the additional 6,000 taxis and a thousand more buses it needed to meet the rising demand for public transport; Iran’s Majlis Speaker Gholam Ali Haddad Adel said that greater advance notice of gasoline rationing would have prolonged public chaos.
· Iran has imported over $2 billion worth of gasoline since the start of the Iranian year on 21 March; the Treasury would have used its allocated $5.2 billion annual billion for gasoline imports within a few months; Keyhan, the influential conservative daily, called for sharp rise in gasoline prices to prevent gasoline smuggling to the neighboring counties; the price of gasoline is set by government at 41 cents a gallon with the ration of slightly more than a gallon of gasoline per car per day; the government has not yet announced the price for extra fuel purchased above the quota.
· Venezuela agreed to sell gasoline to Iran; Venezuelan energy minister Rafael Ramirez said the Iranians had asked to buy gasoline from us and Venezuela accepted their request; Ramirez was accompanying President Hugo Chavez in his visit to Iran.

The Nuclear Program

· The deputy director of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Ollie Heinonen will visit Iran on 11 July to resolve outstanding issues on the country’s nuclear program; Ali Asghar Soltaniyeh, Iran's ambassador to IAEA, said the delegation would not inspect Iran's nuclear facilities during their visit since they are not inspectors; Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani had invited the IAEA to send a team to Tehran to resolve unanswered questions on the nuclear program’s past; Larijani had met IAEA chief Mohammad ElBaradeie in Geneva on 23 June.
· Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran is unfazed by threat of new sanctions; Ahmadinejad said that the West cannot cause Iran any harm.
· Iranian Majlis deputy Morteza Tamaddon said Iran would retaliate if US Congress approves a proposed legislation to ban companies from selling gasoline to Iran; Tamaddon said Iran will restrict the flow of oil through Strait of Hormuz if the Congress passed the bill.
· Russian President Vladimir Putin called for measured steps in dealing with Iranian nuclear program; US President George Bush said that during their meeting in Kennebunkport, Maine, he and Putin agreed to “send a strong message” to Iran over the country’s nuclear program; US has been trying hard to gain the Russian support on a new round of tough economic sanctions against Iran.
· Atomstroyexport, the Russian general contractor building Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant, sent its representative to Iran to resolve the remaining issues between the two sides; Atomstroyexport had stopped work at Bushehr due to financial disputes with the Iranian government.

Iran-US Relations

· Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini denied accusations made by US military in Iraq of Iran’s involvement in training Iraqi extremists; the US military said that a captured senior Hezbollah militant, Ali Musa Daqduq, had confessed to training Iraqi militants inside Iran; US Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner also accused Iran of direct involvement in the capture and the killing of five US soldiers in Karbala last January; Gen. Bergner said that Daqdup was a liaison between the Iranians and Al Qazaali group accused of carrying out the abduction and killings of the Americans in Karbala; Iran’s defense minister Brig. Gen. Mohammad Mustafa Najar rejected the claims; Najar said the US accusations regarding Iran's interference in Iraq's affairs were “lies.”

Other Domestic Storylines

· Iran launched a 24-hour English-language TV news channel, called Press TV (3); Press TV is owned and operated by state-owned Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB); Press TV will compete with Al Jazeera English and other 24-hour English-language TV news channels; Press TV has a staff of 400, with 26 foreign correspondents stationed in major cities worldwide; the news channel did not have any agreements in place with the US cable operators for its programs to be carried by cable.
· Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad rejected a proposal by US movie director Oliver Stone to make a film about him; Mehdi Kalhor, Ahmadinejad’s media advisor, said Stone is part of the cultural establishment of the “Great Satan”.

Regional and International Storylines

· Iran will join Cuban-Venezuelan trade agreement as an “observer member”; the visiting Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez welcomed Iran’s observer membership in the trade pact that he called an alternative to the Free Trade Area of the Americas; Chavez and Cuban President Fidel Castro signed the deal, known by its Spanish acronym ALBA, in 2005; Chavez said cooperation between countries such as Iran and Venezuela will have an effective role “in defeating imperialism”; Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said Iran and Venezuela would sign over 20 memorandums of understanding during Chavez's visit to Iran.
· Chavez and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad met in Asaloyeh, the center of Iranian petrochemical industry on the shores of the Persian Gulf, to launch the construction of a joint petrochemical plant; the tow presidents called the joint venture a manifestation of an “axis of unity” between the two nations.
· Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hossieni said that that Iran has returned to UAE the three boats it had ceased near the island of Abu Mussa; Hosseini said all their passengers were also released and were returned to UAE.
· Iran called for end of hostilities in Yemen through regional mediation; the foreign ministry spokesman said Iran welcomes end of clashes and peaceful settlement of issues in the framework of national unity in Yemen.