The Three Islands
Strait of Hormuz . Persian Gulf
To the north is Iran's Qeshm Island; to the east is the UAE
On Sunday, the UAE foreign minster, Sheikh Abdullah, called on Iran to end the “occupation” of the three islands of the Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb and Abu Musa. Last week, the Emirati foreign minister had linked Iran’s ownership of the three Persian Gulf islands to Israel’s occupation of Palestinian lands.
The controversy over the three islands goes back to early 1970s when the British were pulling out of the Persian Gulf. They put pressure on the shah’s government to renounce Iran’s historical claim over Bahrain in return for the three islands, which also had long been claimed by Iran. Shah agreed and Iran occupied the three islands.
Shah's renunciation of Iran’s claims over Bahrain happened when Bahrain became part of the Federation of Arab Emirates (FAE). In return, the FAE (which included today’s UAE plus Bahrain and Qatar) accepted Iran’s sovereignty over the three islands. In 1971, Bahrain reneged on its membership at FAE and the newly formed UAE later reneged on recognition of Iran’s sovereignty over the islands. Shah’s government recognized Bahrain’s independence, but did not get UAE’s recognition of Iran’s sovereignty over the islands.
Facing the claim by UAE over the three islands, any agreement by the shah’s government to recognize Bahrain in return for the three islands could now be challenged by Tehran. Bahrain and the Trucial States, the predecessor of UAE, did not negotiate with the shah in good faith and the results of those negotiations could now technically be considered null and void.
32 comments:
they are iran's forever. the UAE are strong due to the presence of the Americans in their territory. without them UAE are a lamb duck.
It was a strategic mistake to give Bahrain to Arabs. Recall that these sheikdoms and others did not exist whereas Iran has been there for thousands of years.
In reality all these islands plus Bahrain belong to Iran. You can never satisfy Arabs. They are a bunch of primitive idiots who will nevder be happy. If Israel did not exist they will be fighting with each other and against Iran. Iraq, Jordan (Transjordan), Saudi Arabia and others are artifical countries carved up by Ottoman and Brits after first world war and given to hashemites and al-saud families. None of them have any historical footprint. In so far as Iran is concerned, Iran should adopt a strategy of divide and conquer. It is in the interest of Iran to keep Arabs and Israelis occupied with each other. It is also in the interest of Iran to have the three islands and Bahrain as part of Iranian territory. The alternative would be for US and Britain to get there and run those teritorries through proxy 'al-camel' families with those families squandering the oil money in London casinos. However, the most important part is never let Jordan, Syria and especially Iraq be powerful to challenge Iran in the future.
Talk about neighboring Arab states reneging on territorial treaties. We have the example of the 1975 Algiers Agreement treaty, which Saddam Hussein reneged on and launched the Imposed war upon Iran. And we have this continuous harping over the three rocks in the Persian Gulf.
I mean, it's not like the Arabs have anything more important to whine about- like the occupation by force of an entire land, displacing millions, and oppressing further millions, by an invasion of Europeans. Oh, but wait, now they say these 3 rocks are the equivalent of that. Incredible.
Just goes to show, the puppet shah should have never relinquished the rights of those Bahraini Shia, whom we all know are in reality, a majority of Iranians.
It all makes me remember that descriptive line out of the movie "Lawrence of Arabia": "they [the Arabs] be a little people, a silly people - greedy, barbarous, and cruel."
UAE is an artificial imperialist creation in 1971. It has no history or land claims to anything in the Persian Gulf. Even today, the pathetic UAE has a bare domestic population of mere few hundred thousand laregly iliterate bedouins. Most of th ework is done ny Asian and foreign labour. Trying to tangle with Iran is a bit rich considering 98% of UAE population is expats including many Iranians. These petro-pimps just bark at the orders of their masters. These "claims" have no credibility whatsoever. Actually, the UAE still has undemarcated borders all along the Hezaj penninsula. Most of the artificial Persian Gulf petro-pimpdoms are unsustainable anyway.
Although Iran has its differences with UAE, we need not use this as an excuse to make racial comments against the Arabs. This blog is dedicated to serious discussion of issues facing Iran, and should not be misused as a platform to spread racial hatred, it is unfortunate and unacceptable. We reserve our right to delete any comments that crosses this line in future.
thank you, that was a good simple explanation, for everyone to understand.
Iran should put more mariens on the island to protect it, may be massively boobytrap it and mine it all over. so that the US wont be tempted to remove its soldiers from Iraq onto these islands and UAE gives them the blessing and the UNSC plays time and ...........
If I may say I would not classify these statements as anything racial. Certainly there is more Arabophobia in European papers and blogs than what we see here. I guess we have to acknowledge that an average Iranian does not like Arabs. Anyway that is another matter.
Iran's relationship with Arabs have never been good. Indeed Iran hardly has any cordial relationship with any neigbour who happens to be muslim. If we look around, Iran has cordial relationship with Armenia and Russia, both non muslim countries. Taliban infested Afghanistan and Pakistan are not countries just a no man's land that you would rather never existed! Iraq is in turmoil and yes they killed a million of Iranians. Iran's relationship with Turkey is tactical and by and large they are competitors. The former soviet republics are US puppets (just consider Azerbaijan) and are doing everything to be part of an American regional umbrella (chiefly against Russia). The situation with Persian Gulf neighbours says it all. They are source of trouble. How can you survive in environment like this is anyone's guess. However, I believe it is important for Iran to build on its traditional Persian civilization with European nations. This is in contrast to what European perceive against Arabs and Turks. Turkey for example will never be accepted as part of EU as Europeans are fixated by Turks brutality during Ottoman time and their animosity to Christians etc. I bet if Iran was partly in Europe, it would have had more chance of being accepted as a wealthy member of EU. Cetainly Iran is technically more advanced compared to most East European (Bulgaria, Romania, Poland and others) and South European (Greece, Portugal etc) countries.
I don't believe there is anything racial or anti-Arab involved in any of the comments. It is a simple fact that the Arabs regimes are mostly corrupt US or western puppets who have used a very primitive form of Wahabbi (British created) fundementalist version of Islam to brainwash their largely illierate populations and keep them backward. Even "rich" Arab nations like Saudi Arabia have huge economic and social propblems that are only going to get worse. There was a good article in Middle East online yesterady that analyzed the dire future implications for Saudi Arabia as its population grows and corruption destroys any future potential. All most Arab regimes are post-colonial artificial creations with hand picked foreign imposed autocratic regimes that have always resented superior and largely homogeneous Persian culture, arts and civilization. The whole Arab world of more than 400 million people has less internet usuage, student enrollment, engineering and professional occupation graduates, scientific journals, industrial patents, medical research, manufaturing, auto industry etc than Iran with a population of 76 million despite being subjected to sanctions since 1979. If the so-called western world was objective, it is quite evident that Iran has made substantial progress in the last 3 decades despite all obstacles and is the largest and most developed economy in the region. This whole issue of the three tiny largely unpopulated islands in the Persian Gulf closer to Iranian shores is a non-starter as their status had never been clarified when the British imperialists who controlled the sparsely populated "pearl diving" Sheikhdoms of Hejaz Peninsula, decided to create the artificial United Arab Emirates in 1971, largely to protect their oil and energy interests. None of the Sheikhdoms had any defined territory. In all truth even Kuwait was the 19th province of Iraq, until the British in 1961 decided to create a new nation with the aim of weakening Iraq amd controlling the oil resources. Bahrain with its Shia majority was historically part of Iran and the spineless puppet "shah" literally gave it away. So this new "claim" by UAE on the tiny Persian Gulf islands is a just an echo of Whitehall and Foggy Bottom antagonism towards an independent Iran.
There is also another relevant discussion vis-à-vis Iran and the Arab World. What are the perceived benefits of Iran aligning herself with the Arabs? Is this really anything to do with Islam and religion? Somehow I don’t think so. What has an average Iranian in Tehran or anywhere else in Iran got in common with a Muslim in Indonesia or for that matter a palestinian in Gazza? The answer is really not much. The fact that Iran is the only shia dominated country in Muslim world is testimony to the fact that Iran wants to distinguish itself from the rest of Muslim World. Some may argue with some justification that Iranians have a romantic view of their culture and feel that they have been cheated by history. For example, Iranians feel that they are superior to others around them! It is aknowleged that outside Western World Iran and Persia has the most sophisticated culture. However, I would say that a healthy respect for yourself is good. Amercans think they are superior to the rest of World. Brits thinks that they are much better than French (frogs) and Germans (Krauts) and others . Well that has not done any harm to Brits!
In my view shia islam is nothing more than manifastation of Iranian nationalism. Shah Abbas had to do something against Ottomans who were Sunni muslims. He brought Armenian to Isfahan and allowed Europeans missionaries to Iran and tried in vein to introduce Christianity. That did not work. So he decided to create Shia islam. Ironically if I am correct one of wife’s of Ali and mother of Hossein was Iranian. So Persians could relate to Hossein by the fact that he was half Iranian. So there we go. Shia or some manifestation of Iranian nationalism.
So if Iran wants to be different from the rest of Arab/muslim world why pretend? I fail to see how Iran has benefitted from aligning itself with Arabs and Muslims. They have given Iran nothing but grief. The ongoing arguments about the name of Persian Gulf and those three islands speak for themselves. I am not saying that we should become anti Arab and Pro Israel. That would not help us. Israel needs a kick in its mouth from time to time to remind her who is running the show. However, a degree of “let the semites deal with each other” will not do any harm to Iran. Iran has more important strategic issues for now.
Anonymous on April 30, 2010 2:59 AM said:
"But at this very moment I suffer with come to conjecture that the predominantly world is an poser, a harmless problem that is made disagreeable past our own fervent effort to take to mean it as though it had an underlying truth."
What a load of cobblers! Sounds like verbal diarrhea to me
thats the kinda jibberish bull... one gets when using goggle translator tools looool
give it a love poem, get a declaration of war ...
All these comments starting with "BUT" are obviously incorrect. No English sentence should start with "BUT". It is pretty obvious that whoever is writing this crap is a "tosser". Just in case the Urban dictionary defines a tosser as "someone who tosses off - another name for a W***ker (one who suffers from chronic masturbation)"
The last 10 or so posts are real drivel and make no sense. I wonder how they made past moderation. Perhaps there is an auto edit feature that allows nonsensical posts. Please delete the topical posts. Thanks.
Some sensible person said:
"The last 10 or so posts are real drivel and make no sense. I wonder how they made past moderation. Perhaps there is an auto edit feature that allows nonsensical posts. Please delete the topical posts. Thanks."
Agreed. The nonsenses are left by some sick looney who knows he is sick and needs get help from a vet. I don't believe in capital punishment but people like this trash should be shot!
It is ironic to know why such proud and fiercely independent people like Iranians accepted Islam that started from Arabs. I would have thought that throughout the history Persians looked down on Arabs as bunch of inferiors. Iranian history books justify Islam’s acceptance as preaching equality and brotherly relations, as opposed to whatever was available at time of Sassanid era. Was Persia so class ridden at the time that everyone opened their hearts to Islam?
I think regardless of our sentiments, we need to accept that Islam is one of the least tolerant of religions. Basically either you change your religion and become Muslim or you die, or, in exceptional circumstances you can stay with whatever you are but need to pay hefty tax and accept the fact that you are not equal to Muslims. I must admit I know little about religions. However, was Zoroastrianism practiced in Sassanid era so backward that Islam shined compared to it?
So here we go. Mix Iranian self belief and nationalism with a religion like Islam and you create serious issues. How would Persia has faired if there was no Arab invasion and Persia stayed with Zoroastrianism today. Would Iran be a more progressive country on par with an oriental country like Japan who are as nationalist as Iranians? I don’t think an average Japanese takes his/her religion seriously. However, they value their culture very much.
There are doubters who believe that whatever Iran claims is self promotion. That is seriously flawed. There was a comment in this list about Iran in aggregate coming up ahead of all Arab population combined. There is statistics to prive that. For example those interested should check the following wikepedia site:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_rankings_of_Iran#Industry_and_Mining
For example Iran with its inception in 3200 BC, is the oldest country in the world.
Iran has highest science & technology growth rate in the world, 1000% increase in 9 years (1995-2004); Iran has increased its academic publishing output from 0.0003% of world's total output in 1970 to 0.29% in 2004 (That is ~100,000% growth in 33 years)[105], by 2008 Iran's share had reached 1.02% of the world's total output (~340,000% growth in 37 years)[106]; Iran's growth rate in science is 11 times faster than the world's average rate; Ranked at 45th by total scientific output; Ranked 12th in mathematics, 13th in computer sciences, 17th in medicine, 18th in chemistry & 15th in nanotechnology.
Good on Iran!
No one can be closely like me. Again even I have in shtook doing it.
No one can be undeniably like me. Sometimes yet I have planned in shtook doing it.
Unknown can be faithfully like me. On occasion even I have planned take the trouble doing it.
No person can be exactly like me. On occasion even I make in shtook doing it.
No person can be closely like me. On occasion even I have ailment doing it.
Unknown can be closely like me. Again steady I have planned take the trouble doing it.
These drivels seem to be generated between 4-5 hours in between. For example the last two nonseses were posted at 7:09 and 12:09 respectively. That is 5 hours exactly.
The psycho uses three words most common in these threads. These are "No one", "Unknown" and "On occasion". Just do not publish any response that has these three characteristics.
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