- The article first appeared on Iran's Tehran Times newspaper
-
- It seems that UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin
Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan has much to learn about the fine art of diplomacy.
-
- Demonstrating his lack of diplomatic finesse and inexperience,
the UAE foreign minister has exposed himself to the possibility of a harsh
response from the Islamic Republic of Iran through his provocative remarks
in which he explicitly questions the territorial integrity of the Islamic
Republic, the most tolerant and pacifist state of the Persian Gulf region.
-
- With the surreptitious support of the Zionist, U.S.,
and British lobbies, the United Arab Emirates is now playing the role of
a regional ally of the hegemonistic powers that have created a specter
of Iranophobia for Arab states, which now consider Iran a serious threat
to their security.
-
- The United Arab Emirates, which in 2004 started negotiations
with Tel Aviv over the establishment of an Israeli representative office
in Abu Dhabi, is currently holding negotiations on a $20 million deal with
the Zionist regime that would facilitate the UAE's access to the Israeli-built
satellite Eros B and its high-resolution imagery.
-
- A report published on February 23, 2009 on the American
Defense News website said that "for Israel, the deal represents the
latest step in forging links with a key moderate Arab state which, like
Israel, worries about the threat from Iran."
-
- The "moderate Arab state", which denies having
official relations with Israel, began clandestine talks with Tel Aviv in
2006 and later signed contracts with the Israeli-based company ImageSat
International.
-
- The invitation of Israeli Infrastructure Minister Uzi
Landau to Abu Dhabi to attend an international conference on renewable
energy in early 2010 was the latest move by the Persian Gulf state toward
normalizing ties with Israel.
-
- According to a report published by the UAE newspaper
The National, the UAE is now one of the world's biggest arms purchasers
and a leading client of the U.S. military-industrial complex.
-
- On April 20, the UAE foreign minister likened Iran's
control of three strategic islands in the Persian Gulf, Abu Musa and the
Greater and Lesser Tunbs, to Israel's occupation of Arab territories.
-
- The UAE, a federation of seven emirates, came into being
when Britain granted independence to its Persian Gulf protectorates and
withdrew its forces in 1971. Now its foreign minister draws erroneous and
misleading comparisons between Israel's criminal occupation of the Palestinian
homeland and Iran's legal administration over its own islands.
-
- The position adopted by the UAE's inexperienced foreign
minister, who'll be celebrating his 38th birthday tomorrow, is a harbinger
of Abu Dhabi's anti-Iranian plot, which is apparently planned and directed
by the White House. Threatening Iran with "all options", warning
about a potential nuclear strike, imposing crippling sanctions, promoting
Iranophobia in the region, and provoking a novice state to call into question
the territorial integrity of the most ancient civilization of the region
are only a few of the actions the White House has taken to prevent the
emergence of a powerful Iran.
-
- The UAE claims to have a legal right of sovereignty over
the three Persian Gulf islands and says that Iran has occupied its islands
unlawfully. However, there is an enormous amount of historical documents
and other evidence that prove the UAE is only making baseless allegations.
-
- First of all, the country of the UAE, in its current
configuration, only came into existence in the year 1971, while Iran has
been a regional superpower for the past 2500 years.
-
- In addition, Professor Pirouz Mojtahedzadeh, the renowned
Iranian scholar and geopolitical expert, has said that Iranian Prime Minister
Haji Mirza Aqasi's proclamation of ownership of all islands in the Persian
Gulf in the 1840s was not challenged by any government at the time.
-
- In 1888, Sir Henry Drummond Wolff, the British minister-plenipotentiary
to Tehran, presented a War Office map to Iranian King Nasser al-Din Shah
Qajar in which the islands were identified as Iranian territory.
-
- In his 1892 book Persia and the Persian Question, George
Nathaniel Curzon, the viceroy and governor-general of India, wrote that
the islands belonged to Iran.
-
- In fact, the UAE's claims are so ridiculous that one
can easily dismiss them as propagandistic rhetoric and psychological warfare.
-
- Iranian officials have so far responded to the imprudence
of their UAE counterparts in a relatively tolerant way, showing the international
community Iran's determination to maintain peace and stability in the region
and to implement its policy of détente.
-
- However, the Iranian people will not stand idly by while
others insult their national honor.
-
-
|