Iran considers national day for three Persian Gulf islands
The Iranian government is contemplating a proposal to designate as a national day the anniversary of the British withdrawal from the Persian Gulf islands of Abu Musa, Greater Tunb, and Lesser Tunb.
Niknam Hosseinipour, head of the Public Relations Department of Iran’s Culture Ministry, announced that the Public Culture Council has placed this proposal on its agenda.
He noted that the decision follows a social media campaign advocating for December 1 to be recognized as the national day of the islands.
The three islands, Abu Musa and the Greater and Lesser Tunbs are located in the Persian Gulf between mainland Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The islands have historically been part of Iran for many centuries, proof of which can be found and corroborated by countless legal, historical and geographical documents in Iran and other countries.
But the UAE has questioned Iran’s sovereignty over the islands over the past decades.
Iran has time and again stressed that the three islands are an “integral part of Iran’s territory”, and advised the Arab country not to take positions undermining bilateral friendship.
The root of the issue goes back to the early 20th century, when with the weakening of Iran under the Qajar dynasty and the British imperial expansion in the Persian Gulf, the three islands fell under British control, first Abu Musa in 1904, followed by the two Tunbs in 1921.
Over the next half-century, London entrusted local administration to the British-appointed Sharjah and Ras al-Khaimah Sheikhs.
Iran and the UK intermittently engaged in heated discussions about the status of the three islands but without any results.
On November 30, 1971, a day after British forces left the region and just two days before the UAE was to become an official federation, Iran's sovereignty over the islands was legitimately restored.
Sometime later, the newly established United Arab Emirates began to claim full control over the three Iranian islands, which has continued to this day.
These demands have occasionally disrupted Iranian-Emirati relations, as well as the internal relations of the seven emirates.
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