TEHRAN, Sept. 7 (UPI) -- Three tiny islands in the Persian Gulf are territories of Iran, Tehran said Tuesday in its dismissal of a regional ruling.
The Gulf Cooperation Council, an economic and political union involving six Persian Gulf states, ruled the United Arab Emirates has ownership of the islands of Greater and Lesser Tunb and Abu Musa.
Ramin Mehman Parast, the spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, said the three islands were part of Iranian territory and rejected the "repetitive and unfounded" claims by the GCC, Iran's state-funded broadcaster Press TV reports.
He said the claims amounted to meddling in Iranian affairs and were intended to divert attention from more pressing regional concerns like Israel, the report added.
Iran isn't a member of the GCC.
Iran recalled its ambassador to Iraq briefly in 2008 in protest of Baghdad's support for a move by the United Arab Emirates to take ownership of the islands.
The dispute has spilled over to regional affairs as the islands lie close to key oil shipping lanes near the Straits of Hormuz. They are sparsely populated.
Iran claimed control over the islands following the departure of British forces in 1971.
