UAE for a peaceful solution to island conflicts with Iran

United Arab Emirates Minister of Defense Sheikh Muhammad Bin Rashed al-Maktoum on Sunday said his country seeks to reach a peaceful solution to the standing conflict with Iran over three disputed Gulf islands.

In a statement to the UAE al-Itihad daily Sheikh al-Maktoum said, "We in the UAE seek a fraternal peaceful solution with Iran for the three islands problem. We want this crisis to be sorted out according to the international law and every side to have its own right."

On the efforts exerted by a three-member committee formed by the Gulf states to settle this question, Sheikh al-Maktoum said, "Have confidence in the wisdom of leaders of the region in pursuing an attitude of dialogue and understanding and to resort to the policy of reason and logic in order to settle all disputes."

The Gulf Cooperation Council foreign ministers were due to discuss in their Sunday meeting the question of the UAE islands.

Moreover, the participants in the GCC foreign ministers' meeting will evaluate the works of the three-member committee that was formed by the GCC in July, including the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Oman, who are in charge of making direct contacts between Abu Dhabi and Tehran.

In a statement to the London-based al-Hayat daily issued on Sunday, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said the committee "continues its work in a good way."