GCC Ministers Say Three Islands In Persian Gulf Belong To UAE
The Gulf Cooperation Council has reiterated its position on Iran’s “occupation” of three islands in the Persian Gulf which it claims belong to the United Arab Emirates.
The Gulf Cooperation Council has reiterated its position on Iran’s “occupation” of three islands in the Persian Gulf which it claims belong to the United Arab Emirates.
The declaration was made once again by the foreign ministers of the six member states of the GCC, who claim the Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb, and Abu Musa have been unlawfully occupied by the regime.
The Ministerial Council , which hosted high profile attendees including the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, stressed support for the sovereignty of the United Arab Emirates over the three islands as an indivisible part of the territory of the United Arab Emirates.
In the meeting Wednesday, they further added that any practices or actions carried out by Iran on the three islands are “null, void and have no effect on the right of the sovereignty of the United Arab Emirates over its three islands”.
The Ministerial Council also called on Iran to respond to the efforts of the United Arab Emirates to resolve the issue through direct negotiations or resorting to the International Court of Justice.
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 a civilian population which is less than two thousand.
The Council welcomed the agreement reached between Saudi Arabia and Iran in Beijing at the initiative of the Chinese President Xi Jinping, which it also hopes can pave the way for talks over Iran’s nuclear enrichment, a shared concern for all GCC states.
“[We] hope this agreement would constitute a positive step for resolving differences and ending all regional conflicts through dialogue and diplomatic means and establishing relations between countries on the basis of understanding, mutual respect, and good neighborliness,” read the statement.
After seven years of soured political relations, Iran and Sadi Arabia signed a deal earlier this month brokered by China to resume times and open embassies in the respective capitals.
However, the continued activity of Iran’s proxy militia, the Houthi rebels, is proving a contentious issue as they show no signs of abating action in Yemen.
The Council reiterated its calls on the Houthis to negotiate under the supervision of the UN to reach a political solution.
The Ministerial Council further condemned Iran's continued “foreign interference in the internal affairs of Yemen, sending military experts and weapons to the Houthi terrorist militia in clear violation of Security Council Resolutions”.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanaani slammed the comments about the occupied islands and stressed Thursday that they are an integral and eternal part of the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
At a review of the 2024 State Department Budget Request on Wednesday, Republican Senator Ted Cruz called the Biden administration “weak”, claiming its weakness on Iran is indirectly supporting Russia’s war efforts, in addition to boosting its nuclear capacity.
In a scathing attack, Cruz told Secretary of State Antony Blinken a walking back of the previous administration’s oil sanctions on Iran has led to empowering the regime's nuclear program and helped it support Russia’s military capacity through drone sales.
“I'm deeply concerned, however, that no matter how much you may want to help Ukraine there is something the Biden administration wants more, which is to re-enter a nuclear agreement with Iran,” he said.
“This administration has shown weakness on Iran since day one, and continues to do so. Just in the last few weeks there have been reports that you again waived congressional sanctions to allow Iraq to move money to the Central Bank of Iran, which the Ayatollah uses for terrorism, for ballistic missile development, and nuclear weapons work.”
The outspoken Senator went on to discuss the oil revenues which Iran is capitalizing on in addition to claiming that Russia’s use of Iranian oil tankers violates US energy sanctions.
“You've allowed that ghost fleet to grow dramatically,” Cruz said, claiming the number of tankers Iran was using at the start of the administration has risen from 70 to 300.
“The administration [has] allowed Iran to restore its energy exports, getting above one million barrels a day, which is funding the regime and funding the war on Ukraine.”
Last month was the highest oil exports Iran has had since 2018, not only great news for a beleaguered Iranian economy, but a boost to Russia which is now using an enormous Iranian fleet to bypass international sanctions.
Iranian oil exports started hitting new highs in the last two months of 2022 despite US sanctions, with higher shipments to China and Venezuela, countries bypassing international sanctions.
Tehran's oil exports were limited under former President Donald Trump when in 2018 he exited a 2015 nuclear accord and reimposed sanctions aimed at curbing oil exports and the associated revenue to Iran's government.
However, exports have risen during the term of his successor President Joe Biden, who had sought to revive the nuclear deal, and hit the highest since 2019 on some estimates. This comes despite headwinds such as a stall in those talks and competition from discounted Russian crude.
Energy consultant SVB International said Iran's crude exports in December averaged 1.137 million barrels per day, up 42,000 bpd from November and the highest 2022 figure SVB has reported based on estimates given earlier.
Blinken sheepishly defended the administration’s position, standing by the desire to return to the nuclear deal, known as JCPOA, talks which broke down last year after Iranian intransigence.
He said the US is “actively and aggressively working to break up” the alliance between Russia and Iran, claiming there are moves underway to reimpose the oil sanctions. Though the administration has imposed sanctions across Iran’s UAV network, which it is supplying to Russia for its invasion on Ukraine, a position the regime firmly denies, it is no nearer quelling the million barrels of oil Iran is selling which in turn, funds its global network of terror.
“We’re working every day to enforce the existing sanctions on Iran even as we're looking at imposing new ones,” said Blinken, though Cruz refuted the claims, accusing him of it being a simple political decision not to enforce the oil sanctions.
Russia’s support for Iran’s nuclear program was also a major point of contention, Cruz citing President Vladimir Zolensky’s claims that Russia is compensating Iran for weapons through nuclear cooperation. “Under this administration, you have allowed Iran to get to the brink of a nuclear weapon,” Cruz blasted, while Blinken blamed the failure of nuclear talks on Iran’s pulling out.
Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, signaled the exasperation felt among Republicans and some Democrats at the lack of action from the Democrat administration to curb Iran’s growth. Rather than calling on a return to the JCPOA, the sentiment is that the moment has long passed.
“The Europeans have not joined us in multilateralizing our sanctions which at this time to Iran would have a huge consequence,” Menendez said. “It's time to come to the conclusion that we want Iran to move in a different course, so others have to join us as well.”
His sentiments were echoed by Senator James E. Risch, who, with Menendez, recently met with the International Atomic Energy Agency to discuss the matter of Iran.
Concurring, Risch added: “We need to encourage our European allies to join us in what we're trying to do as far as Iran is concerned.”
Economic analyst Morteza Afghah told centrist news website Entekhab that tensions in Iran's domestic politics will escalate if the government fails to solve the country's economic problems and eliminate the impact of sanctions on the economy.
Afghah further argued that without resolving Iran's nuclear dispute with world powers and securing the lifting of US sanctions, back-breaking inflation in Iran will continue.
Talks with the West to revive the 2015 nuclear accord known as the JCPOA came to a deadlock last September.
Iran is experiencing an annual inflation rate of more than 50 percent for the second year in a row, with food prices rising between 70-100 percent.
The economist also argued that government officials do not realize how far their legitimacy has declined and people no longer believe their promises and statements. He added that the government expects the improvement in the ties with Saudi Arabia to bring about hope in the future of the economy, but without tackling the issue of the JCPOA and reducing regional tensions cannot solve all of the country's problems.
Meanwhile, in an interview with ILNA, conservative political activist Hossein Kanani-Moqaddam asked, "Why the government can negotiate with the enemies, but it is not prepared to hold dialogue with its own citizens?" Highlighting some of Iran's domestic and international political problems, Kanani called for negotiations between the government and political groups to put an end to the worsening impasse as almost all groups except ultraconservatives have been barred from candidacy in parliamentary and presidential elections.
Kanani-Moqaddam further stressed the need for national reconciliation, which would bring various orientations to the forefront of political activity in Iran. "Political groups and organizations should be able to discuss problems with state officials and the people…as a way of addressing major problems." He also called for boosting political participation and "religious democracy" in Iran.
A report in moderate Rouydad24 website quoted Yahya Ebrahimi, a member of parliament, as saying that if lawmakers had been allowed to impeach some minister, the government would have better realized that the country was in a critical situation.
The remark highlighted complaints by many lawmakers during the past year about parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf preventing impeachment motions.
Ebrahimi warned that the political and economic situation in Iran is likely to be worsen in the coming months. The low-income strata of the society are going to suffer more than others as "wage-earners live under the poverty line as we have only two economic classes in Iran: The rich and the poor."
Ebrahimi further charged that the Iranian government has left the people to their own devices and is not doing anything to improve the situation. He added that "The current economic team is an insult to the nation's intelligence."
Ebrahimi warned that the social implication of this situation is far dangerous than its economic consequences. Students are abandoning schools, and cases of drug addiction and delinquency are on the rise.” Officials should be held accountable when impoverished people take to the streets in protest.