Reactions to Iran's opening of municipal council in Abu Mousa island

United Arab Emirates dailies on Sunday denounced Iran's opening of a municipal house on one of the three islands disputed between the two countries and viewed this Iranian act as a "new provocation" through imposing its de facto rule.

The UAE comments were made following the inauguration by Iranian Minister of the Interior Abdul Jawad Mosawi on Friday of a municipality house on Abu Mousa island, one of the three islands whose sovereignty is subject of a dispute between Tehran and Abu Dhabi. The inauguration of the municipality house by Iran on Abu Mousa came on the occasion of Iran' s celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the Islamic revolution in Iran.

In its commentary under the title "a new Iranian provocation," the UAE daily al-Khaleej (the Gulf) said that by doing so, "Iran is persistent to escalate its provocation against the UAE and violate all conceptions of good neighborly that should prevail among countries not only according to international norms and UN charter but also according to links and values of history, geography, religion and culture."

The paper added that Iran is proceeding in "closing all the doors opened by the UAE to find a peaceful solution for the three islands through direct negotiations or international arbitration."

On last Thursday, the UAE submitted a memorandum of objection to the Arab League concerning Iranian military maneuvers held in December 1998 in the gulf of Oman and the Hormuz area. Iran seized the islands of Abu Mousa, and Greater and Lesser Tanb since the evacuation of the British troops from these islands in 1971. It refuses international arbitration to determine the destiny of the three islands and announces its readiness to discuss joint arrangements only for Abu Mousa.

On several occasion, the UAE has called for "constructive dialogue" and arbitration at the International Court of Justice in the Hague to sort out this problem.