The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has issued a strong rebuke to Tehran after a new wave of Iranian statements revived decades-old disagreements over territorial sovereignty in the Gulf.
The bloc of six Gulf Arab states said Iran’s remarks, reasserting claims over the three disputed islands of Abu Musa, Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb, which are also claimed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), contain false assertions and undermine regional stability.
The GCC comprises Saudi Arabia, Oman, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait.
GCC Secretary General Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi criticised the comments as violations of international law and principles of good-neighbourliness, stressing that they infringe upon the sovereignty of the UAE and contradict the Council’s longstanding efforts to foster constructive engagement with Tehran.
He added that similar rhetoric has affected other member states, including Bahrain and Qatar, and pointed to past Iranian actions that he said breached Qatar’s sovereignty.
The dispute intensified following remarks by Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei and Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, both of whom insisted the islands are indisputable Iranian territory.
Ghalibaf, later responding directly to the GCC’s condemnation issued after its summit in Bahrain last week, said the bloc’s position rested on “baseless and absurd claims encouraged by outside actors.”
He warned neighbouring states not to “test the will of the Iranian people” in defending what Tehran views as its territorial integrity, calling the islands “pieces of Iran’s body.”