Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos on Friday held a telephone call with his Iranian counterpart Seyyed Abbas Araghchi, with the call coming just days after Iran summoned Cyprus’ ambassador in Tehran Petros Nacouzis and issued him a written objection over Cyprus’ position regarding disputed islands in the Persian Gulf.

The Cypriot government’s official line was that the pair had “discussed bilateral and regional issues ahead of the assumption by Cyprus of the presidency of the Council of the European Union”.

However, Iran had been incensed after Cyprus had on Sunday signed a joint declaration with the United Arab Emirates declaring that it recognises three islands in the Persian Gulf as belonging to the UAE.

According to the Islamic Republic News Agency, Iranian Assistant Foreign Minister Mohammad Alibek met Nacouzis and “formally conveyed Iran’s strong protest” at the joint declaration.

Related Articles

“During the meeting, Alibek stressed that the three islands of Abu Musa, Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb are integral parts of Iran’s territory, emphasising that Iran’s historical, undisputed, and effective sovereignty over the islands is beyond doubt,” the agency said.

It added that Alibek had “underlined that the Islamic Republic of Iran strongly condemns any territorial claims against its sovereignty”, and that he had described them as “a violation of the fundamental principle of respect for national sovereignty and territorial integrity of states”.

Alibek also alluded to the Cyprus problem during his meeting with Nacouzis, with the agency writing that he had referred to “Iran’s principled position of non-interference in the sovereign and territorial issues of other countries, including Cyprus”.

Sunday’s joint statement was unequivocal in the opposite direction, saying that “Cyprus reaffirmed its principled support for the sovereignty of the United Arab Emirates, especially as regards its three islands, Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb and Abu Musa”.

Abu Musa, Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb are all located in the Persian Gulf, with Abu Musa, the largest of the three islands, situated roughly at the midpoint between Dubai and the Iranian coastal town of Bandar Lengeh. It has a commercial airport, which is served by flights to mainland Iran.

Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb are located further northeast, close to the undisputed Iranian island of Qeshm. They have a combined population of around 300.

In the modern era, the dispute over the islands’ ownership is sourced from when the British ruled over the Trucial States, the predecessor to the modern UAE.

Shortly before the end of the British protectorate and the formation of the UAE in 1971, Iran, ruled at the time by Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and the ruler of the Emirate of Sharjah – one of the UAE’s emirates – Khalid bn Mohammed Al Qasimi, signed a memorandum of understanding stipulating joint administration of the island of Abu Musa.

The memorandum, signed on November 30, 1971, provided for the establishment of a police station by Sharjah and the stationing of Iranian troops on the island.

Iran took Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb on the day the memorandum was signed, and seized Abu Musa the following day.

Two months later, in January 1972, Al Qasimi was killed in an attempted coup, while Pahlavi was toppled in the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979, but the Islamic Republic formed out of the revolution retained the islands.

The UAE took its claim over the islands to the United Nations in 1980, but the claim was deferred by the security council at the time and the matter has not been revisited.

Since then, the Iranian government has since established naval bases on the islands, which it uses to patrol the Strait of Hormuz.