The PGCC — comprising Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, and Qatar — and the EU issued a joint statement on Monday during their 29th ministerial meeting, calling on Iran to halt its missile program and to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
In response, spokesperson Esmail Baqaei on Tuesday dismissed the joint statement’s “baseless and interventionist claims,” including the UAE’s repeated assertions regarding Iran’s sovereignty over the Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb, and Abu Musa islands.
He condemned the “unwarranted interference” in Iran’s defense and nuclear affairs and warned against divisive European policies in the Persian Gulf.
Baqaei reaffirmed that the three islands are an inseparable part of Iranian territory, stressing that “repeated baseless claims in political statements have no legal value and cannot change geographical and historical facts.”
He advised southern Persian Gulf states to stop repeating “tired and unfounded accusations” against Iran’s territorial integrity and to focus instead on building mutual trust, strengthening regional friendship, and addressing the greatest threat to peace and stability — the Israeli regime.
Criticizing the “subversive role” of certain European countries such as Germany and France — supporters of “the genocidal Israeli regime,” which remains the only nuclear-armed entity in the region — Baqaei said EU interference in Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman affairs does nothing to resolve regional disputes.
The spokesperson also described the joint PGCC–EU statement on Iran’s defense capabilities as “unwarranted and unacceptable interference in matters related to Iran’s national sovereignty.”
He added: “Those who have turned our region into a vast arsenal of advanced and destructive weapons worth hundreds of billions of dollars — and who, through inaction in the face of an expansionist, genocidal regime or by providing it with comprehensive military and political support, have plunged West Asia into endless wars — are in no position whatsoever to comment on Iran’s indigenous and defensive capabilities.”
Baqaei further expressed regret that PGCC member states, instead of holding the EU accountable for its regional policies, have “provided a platform for its deceptive blame-shifting.”
