TEHRAN, Oct. 22 (UPI) -- The United Arab Emirates has no basis to lay claim to three disputed islands in the Persian Gulf, the Iranian foreign minister said.
The foreign minister denied claims made by Emirati officials who alleged sovereignty over the islands of Abu Musa and Greater and Lesser Tunb, the semiofficial Fars News Agency reports.
"They will always remain an indisputable part of the Iranian territory," a statement from the ministry read.
In March, the United Arab Emirates repeated its assertion that the three islands were under Iranian occupation, sparking a renewed row over the issue.
Iran, for its part, claimed control over the islands following the departure of British forces in 1971.
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 three Persian Gulf islands.
The dispute has spilled over to regional affairs, pitting Egypt and its allies against Iran. The islands lie close to key oil shipping lanes near the Straits of Hormuz. They are sparsely populated, if at all.
