Iran FM to Lavrov: Three Persian Gulf islands inseparable parts of Iran

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Friday afternoon held talks on the phone about developments in southern Caucasus, the situation in Palestine and Gaza and bilateral as well as regional issues.

Amirabdollahian described as positive the trend of peace talks between the Republic of Azerbaijan and Armenia. He referred to the negative implications of interferences by some extra-regional players in the region, underlining the need to use the possibilities of the regional countries. Amirabdollahian said regional nations can play a constructive role to establish and guarantee peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

He reacted to some parts of the statement of the sixth session of the Russian-Arab Cooperation Forum in Morocco, saying the three Iranian islands in the Persian Gulf are inseparable parts of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s territory.

The Iranian foreign minister added that Tehran rejects any other claim in this regard.

Pointing to the good and growing ties between Tehran and Moscow, Amirabdollahian noted that respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of countries is a basic tenet of relations between nations and that Iran doesn’t stand on ceremony with any country when it comes to its territorial integrity and sovereignty.

Lavrov for his part spoke about the recent 3+3 group in Tehran and stressed the need for the members of the grouping to strengthen their cooperation in order to help Armenia and Azerbaijan reach a peace deal and put a regional mechanism in place to secure the implementation of the agreement.

The Russian foreign minister also underscored the important and constructive role of Iran in helping establish peace in the southern Caucasus.

Lavrov described the Tehran-Moscow ties as strategic and underlined that Russia has always respected Iran’s territorial integrity and this is the Russian Federation’s official policy, which must not be doubted at all. Lavrob said, “During the talks for preparing the final statement of the Morocco meeting, we explicitly reaffirmed our respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iran.”

Amirabdollahian and Lavrov also discussed the developments in Palestine during their telephone conversation.