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UK behind UAE hype over Abu Musa Island: Iran MP

A senior Iranian lawmaker says propaganda hype created by the Arab League and United Arab Emirates (UAE) officials over the Iranian president’s recent visit to Abu Musa Island is in line with British policies.

“Since Britain has been present in the Middle East in the past, it has always sown discord among neighboring countries [in the region],” Alaeddin Boroujerdi was quoted by Mehr News Agency as saying on Friday.

The lawmaker, who heads the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, added that Britain continues the same policy and tries to divide regional countries by pitting them against one another.

He went on to describe the hype created around President Ahmadinejad’s visit to Abu Musa as “unacceptable.”

Boroujerdi stated that Abu Musa is inseparable part of Iran and it is quite natural for the president to travel there just as he travels to other parts of the country.

“The issues raised by the Arab League and UAE officials are not acceptable and [Iran’s] possession of the three [Persian Gulf] islands [Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb and Abu Musa] is unchangeable and permanent and this issue is not open to negotiation,” he said.

The lawmaker stressed that Iran and the UAE can negotiate over any misunderstanding, but the issue of Iran’s possession of the three islands is non- negotiable.

On Wednesday, Emirati Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahayan criticized President Ahmadinejad’s visit to the Iranian island of Abu Musa during his tour of Hormozgan Province as a “violation of UAE sovereignty over its territories.”

UAE also summoned its ambassador to Tehran, Saif Mohammed Abid al-Zaabi, on Thursday in protest to Ahmadinejad’s official trip to Abu Musa.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Thursday that President Ahmadinejad’s visit to this island “is an internal affair which has been made in the framework of his provincial tours.”

The Greater Tunb, the Lesser Tunb and Abu Musa have historically been part of Iran, the proof of which can be found and corroborated by countless historical, legal and geographical documents in Iran and other parts of the world. However, the UAE has repeatedly laid claim to the islands.

The islands temporarily fell under British control in the 1800s, but were returned to Iran on November 30, 1971, through a legal procedure that preceded the establishment of the UAE as a state.

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