The Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC) has once again repeated its worn-out allegations against Iran’s three islands and the Arash gas field in a statement issued at the conclusion of its 46th summit held on Wednesday night in Bahrain.
According to the PGCC Secretariat’s website and as reported by Mehr News Agency, the council’s leaders released a statement in which several paragraphs revived their recurring claims regarding the three Iranian islands and the Arash oil and gas field.
Despite the fact that the Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb, and Abu Musa islands are an inseparable part of Iranian territory, the PGCC claimed—without any basis—that these islands belong to the United Arab Emirates.
In its final communiqué, the council reiterated its usual claims, asserting that it maintains its fixed position and previous resolutions condemning what it claimed to be the continued occupation of the three Emirati islands by Iran.
Interfering in Iran’s territorial sovereignty, the PGCC further alleged that the UAE has sovereignty over the islands, their territorial waters, airspace, and exclusive economic zone, describing them as an integral part of Emirati territory.
Although all historical maps confirm Iran’s longstanding sovereignty over the three islands, the PGCC continued its unfounded assertions by claiming that any action, decision, or activity by Iran in these islands is “null and void,” and that such measures do not change what it called the UAE’s historic and legal right over them.
The council also condemned Iran’s decision to include the “National Day of the Three Islands of the Persian Gulf” (marked on 9 Azar/30 November) in its official calendar—a move rooted in Iran’s sovereign right.
Despite the islands being an inseparable part of Iran, the PGCC urged Tehran to respond to what it called the UAE’s efforts to resolve the matter through direct negotiation or by referring the case to the International Court of Justice.
Going further, the council condemned Iran’s residential construction projects on its own soil in the three islands, calling them “provocative actions,” and expressed concern about what it described as “tension-raising measures” by Iranian officials.
The PGCC also objected to Iranian military exercises in the islands and visits by senior Iranian officials, labeling them as condemnable actions. It further described statements made by Iranian authorities regarding the islands as hostile and escalating, claiming that such remarks violate what it called the UAE’s sovereignty.
The PGCC asked Iran to refrain from what it described as “provocative actions” and to adopt positions that would—according to the council—build trust toward a so-called fair solution regarding the islands.
In another part of the statement, the PGCC asserted that the Arash (Al-Durra) gas field lies entirely within Kuwaiti waters and claimed that the ownership of natural resources in the shared neutral zone, including the Al-Durra (Arash) field, belongs exclusively to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, who it said are the only parties entitled to exploit its resources.
The council rejected any claim by any other side regarding rights over the field or the adjoining neutral zone near the maritime boundary between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
These assertions come despite Iran’s repeated emphasis on its historical and legal ownership of the three islands and its rights over the Arash gas field.
MNA