Iran Asserts Islands Sovereignty, Arabs Sing In ‘Garden Alleys’
Iran has reasserted its claim to sovereignty over three Persian Gulf islands after Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) foreign ministers met this week in Riyadh.
Iran has reasserted its claim to sovereignty over three Persian Gulf islands after Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) foreign ministers met this week in Riyadh.
Foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said Friday that Abu Musa, Greater Tunbs, and Lesser Tunbs were all Iranian, rejecting the GCC view that the islands belong to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Kanaani said the GCC claim was “opening the security equations of the region to foreigners.”
The three islands have been in dispute since the British withdrew their armed forces in 1971 and Mohammad Reza Shah sent the Iranian navy to secure all three. Iranian forces remain on the islands, with only Abu Musa having much of a civilian population at several thousand.
Kanaani stressed Tehran’s wish for improved relations with the GGC member states, a central commitment of President Ebrahim Raisi since taking office in August 2021. Relations between Iran and the six GCC member-states have thawed with August’s return to Tehran of Kuwaiti and Emirati ambassadors, and with cautious Saudi-Iran dialogue since last year mediated by Iraq.
Raw nerve
But the statement closing the GGC foreign ministers’ meeting, their 153rd, in making a routine reference to three islands, has touched a raw nerve in Tehran amid wider tensions. Amongst the GCC, Qatar and Oman would welcome the return of the 2015 nuclear deal, the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action), and have both mediated between Tehran and Washington.
But even after President Joe Biden’s July visit to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia remains skeptical. The Saudis loudly opposed the JCPOA when it was agreed in 2015, and Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salam closely identified with President Donald Trump, who withdrew the US from the JCPOA in 2018.
In a piece Friday, Fars News republished a 2006 article written by Hossein Shariatmadari, long-serving editor of the flagship principlist daily Kayhan, establishing the “historical and legal reasons for Iran’s ownership.”
Maps from ancient Greece
With barely concealed contempt for the six nations of the GCC, none of which he pointed out had existed for as long as 100 years, Shariatmadari referred to maps and documents going back to ancient Greece, arguing that geographers and officials had considered the islands part of Iran. Shariatmadari gave particular mention to the work of the British, including an 1881 Royal Navy map with “the three islands and the soil of Iran” in the same color.
Shariatmadari headlined his 2006 article Avaz Kuche Baghi, ‘songs of the garden alleys,’ referring to old stories of passers-by singing to keep up their spirits as night fell. Similarly, the editor suggested, the Arab monarchs of the Persian Gulf ‘sang’ to dampen their fears of the “earthquake that the Islamic Revolution has thrown on their medieval and illegal governments” whose people lacked “the least involvement” in “the rule of one family.”
Shariatmadari also argued that Bahrain, which became an independent state 1971, had been “separated” from Iran in an “illegal conflict.” After the British took over Bahrain in the late nineteenth century there was agitation in the Iranian parliament by the 1950s to declare it an Iranian province, but Shah Mohammad Reza abandoned Iran’s claim in 1970.
The Iranian government’s office organizing the Arbaeen pilgrimage said Friday, “Because of worrying incidents at [two border crossings] and serious dangerous incidents occurring for the security and wellbeing of pilgrims” the borders are closed.
Although Iranian authorities say they made the decision, but Iraq already closed border crossings Thursday afternoon because of congestion and high temperatures. Reports from Iraq say that the government has closed also internal roads leading to Krabala, the venue of the gathering, because existing infrastructure reached its full capacity.
The Iranian government has been advertising the pilgrimage with all its official media and religious organizations and offering financial help to potential pilgrims in the past few weeks. As late as Thursday, top Iranian officials, including the interior minister, were re-assuring the public that everything was coordinated with Iraq and the pilgrimage would continue throughout September.
But unexpectedly Iraq closed two major crossing points Thursday evening and Iran announced Friday morning that pilgrims who have made arrangements should change their plans and people with bus tickets can get their money back. It also said no more passports will be issued in person and those who have applied will receive them through the mail.
The pilgrimage is on the occasion of Arbaeen, the 40th day after the death of the third Shiite Imam, Hussain Ibn Ali, who was killed in a power rivalry by the reigning caliph in a clash in Karbala in 680 Ad.
The battle and Hussain’s death is the main pillar of Shiite beliefs. The minority sect in the Muslim world believes that Hussain was the rightful successor to the first four Muslim rulers, being Prophet Muhammad’s grandson and the son of the fourth caliph Ali.
Iranian officials said Friday that conditions in Iraq were simply not ready for accepting a flood of hundreds of thousands of people that could well turn into millions of pilgrims not only from Iran but also Pakistan and Afghanistan.
However, the Arbaeen March to Iraq’s Karbala is a new phenomenon pushed by the Islamic Republic to show the power of Shiites who are a minority in the Muslim world and in West Asia.
Just a decade ago Arbaeen was marked in Iran’s religious centers and there was no tradition of a march to Karbala, but the government with its army of religious institutions and networks began to cultivate concept and with financial appropriations turned it into a millions-strong annual gathering.
This year, the government is offering $100 to each pilgrim, plus a loan of $160 to facilitate the march. In addition to that, transportation, food, medical services, free Wi-Fi and other services are offered. In all, it is estimated that Iran will spend at least $500 million this year despite its dire economic circumstances.
Iraq also experienced political upheaval in August between Iran-backed Shiite groups and followers of Muqtada Sadr, an influential Shia cleric opposed to Iran’s influence in the country.
In 2019, The New York Times quoted an influencial Iranian media boss, Hossein Sulaimani, as saying, “Arbaeen is a display of power for Iran and a showcase of unity among Shiites in the region."