Iran protests US statement on islands dispute with UAE

Iran said Friday it had called in the Swiss envoy to deliver a protest over a "provocative" US statement on its decades-old dispute with the UAE over three Gulf islands.

The foreign ministry was reacting to a joint statement issued on Wednesday by top diplomats of the United States and the six Gulf Arab states backing UAE calls for negotiations or arbitration of the dispute, which dates back to the early 1970s.

"The strong protest and condemnation of the Islamic Republic of Iran regarding this ill-considered position and the provocative actions of the American government were communicated [on Thursday] to the Swiss chargé d'affaires who represents US interests in Iran," the ministry said in a statement.

"Iran is determined to defend its territorial integrity and protect its security and interests against any threats from the US government."

The islands of Abu Musa and Greater and Lesser Tunb lie near the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic seaway between the Gulf and the open ocean through which a fifth of world oil output passes.

Iran gained control of the islands when still under the rule of the Western-backed shah in 1971, as Britain withdrew from the Gulf protectorates that now make up the UAE.

In Wednesday's statement, US and Gulf diplomats "reaffirmed their support for the UAE's call to reach a peaceful solution to the dispute over the three islands, through bilateral negotiations or the International Court of Justice".

On Thursday, foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani condemned the US move, insisting the three islands were "an inseparable and eternal part of the territory" of Iran.

The United States is not the only outside power to have offended Iran by seemingly taking the Gulf Arab side in the dispute.

In July, Iran summoned the Russian ambassador in Tehran to protest a similar joint statement by Gulf Arab governments and Moscow.

Iran and the United States have had no diplomatic relations since the aftermath of the 1979 Islamic Revolution which overthrew the shah and Switzerland looks after US interests in Iran.