“The three Persian Gulf islands of the Greater Tunb, the Lesser Tunb and Abu Musa definitely belongs to Iran, and annoying and threadbare statements issued in this regard will not change Iran’s eternal ownership of the islands,” said Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran rejects any interference in its peaceful nuclear and missile programs as well as issues pertinent to its defense policies,” the spokesman added.
Khatibzadeh once again underscored the priority that Iran, especially of the 13th administration, attaches to the enhancement of cooperation and relations with all neighbouring countries without foreign intervention.
He expressed hope the few GCC member states which seek to impose their anti-Iran viewpoints will change tack and pay attention to intra-regional talks and adopt confidence-building measures to give diplomacy a shot in the arm rather than focus their attention beyond the region and make impractical demands to countries outside the region.
“The GCC should know that making unacceptable demands, levelling baseless accusations against the Islamic Republic of Iran and rehashing threadbare statements are not the solution to the problems facing the region and these countries,” he added.
“Rather, the region needs a paradigm shift to rid itself of outside dependence and turn to constructive intra-regional interaction and go for inclusion rather than exclusion,” he noted.
Iran Berates GCC Statement on Three Persian Gulf Islands
Tehran has reacted to Statement 149 of foreign ministers of the [Persian] Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) regarding Iran’s ownership of three Persian Gulf islands.
