Abu Musa and Greater and Lesser Tunbs dispute | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() Map of the Strait of Hormuz showing the disputed islands | |||||||||
| |||||||||
Belligerents | |||||||||
![]() | ![]() ![]() | ||||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
![]() ![]() | ![]() ![]() | ||||||||
Strength | |||||||||
2,000 soldiers | 6 police officers | ||||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||||
3 killed (Iranian claim) | 4 killed (Iranian claim) 1 killed (UAE claim) |
The seizure of Abu Musa and the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by the Imperial Iranian Navy took place on 30 November 1971, shortly after the withdrawal of British forces from the islands of Abu Musa and the Greater and Lesser Tunbs, all located in the Strait of Hormuz between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. [1] The Imperial State of Iran had claimed sovereignty over both sets of islands, while the Emirate of Ras al-Khaimah claimed the Greater and Lesser Tunbs and the Emirate of Sharjah claimed Abu Musa.
Following the seizure of the islands by Iran, both the emirates of Sharjah and Ras al-Khaimah acceded to the newly formed United Arab Emirates, doing so on 2 December 1971 and 10 February 1972, respectively, causing the United Arab Emirates to inherit the territorial dispute with Iran over the islands. As of 2022 [update] , the islands remain disputed between the United Arab Emirates and the Islamic Republic of Iran. [2]
On the ground, Iran has maintained its control over the islands since their seizure in 1971, while the United Arab Emirates has made several attempts through international channels to gain sovereign control of the islands.
According to Iranologist Pirouz Mojtahedzadeh, the Tunbs were in the dominions of the kings of Hormuz from 1330 until 1507 when they were invaded by Portugal. The Portuguese occupied the island until 1622, when they were expelled by Shah Abbas. The islands were part of various Persian Empires from 1622 to 7 June 1921, when they were occupied by the British Empire and were put under administration of the Emirate of Sharjah.
On 29 November 1971, shortly before the end of the British protectorate and the formation of the United Arab Emirates, Iran and the ruler of Sharjah signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the joint administration of Abu Musa. Under the MoU, Sharjah was to have a local police station on Abu Musa and Iran was to station troops on the island according to a map attached to the MoU. Iran and Sharjah were each to have full jurisdiction in the designated areas and their flags were to continue to fly. The MoU provided for equal distribution of petroleum oil revenues. [1] It has been said that the ruler of Sharjah had no other feasible option but to sign the MoU. He either had to negotiate to save part of his territory or forego the restoration of the remaining part of the island for good. [3] On the same day Iran regained the Greater and Lesser Tunbs.
A day later, on 30 November 1971, Iran seized Abu Musa. [1] [4] [5]
At dawn on 29 November 1971, helicopters circled Abu Musa and dropped leaflets, written in Persian, telling residents who were mostly farmers and fishermen to surrender. [6]
At 5:30 pm on 29 November 1971, a contingent of the Iranian army supported by Imperial Iranian Navy forces invaded the Lesser and Greater Tunbs. [7] In the Tunbs, the ruler of Ras Al Khaimah, Sheikh Saqr bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, who did not have a signed agreement with Iran, resisted the Iranian troops. [8] On Greater Tunb, the Iranians ordered the six policemen stationed there to lower the flag. Salem Suhail bin Khamis, the head policeman, refused to comply and was shot and killed.[ citation needed ] [9] Policemen in Greater Tunb clashed with the Iranian troops and in the ensuing skirmish four Ras Al Khaimah policemen and three Iranian soldiers were killed. The Iranian troops then demolished the police station, the school, and a number of houses, and forced the natives to leave the island. The body of the deceased were buried on the island and the residents were put on fishing boats and expelled to Ras Al Khaimah. [7] The Iranian naval forces seized the islands with little resistance from the tiny Arab police force stationed there. [10] The population of the Greater Tunb in 1971 was 150. [11] [12] According to author Richard N. Schofield, a source states that the 120 Arab civilian population of Greater Tunb was then deported, but according to other reports the island had already been uninhabited for some time earlier. [10]
On 30 November 1971, an Iranian contingent landed on Abu Musa to occupy the part of the island alluded to in the memorandum of understanding with Sharjah. It was led by the commandant of the navy who was received by the deputy ruler of Sharjah and some aides. [7] On the same day, Iranian Prime Minister officially broke the news of the seizure of the islands of Lesser and Greater Tunbs and the partial occupation of Abu Musa and stated that the Iranian flag had been hoisted on the tip of Haifa mountain, the highest point in Abu Musa. He said Iran's sovereignty of the islands was restored following prolonged talks with the British government and declared that Iran would not abandon its sovereignty over the whole of Abu Musa and accordingly, the presence of local officials in certain parts of the island was inconsistent with Iran's sovereignty over the whole island. [13]
Iran announced that three of its troops were killed and one was wounded, while killing four policemen and injuring five others. [14] The UAE has claimed one policeman to have died while defending the island. [15]
Iran justified the takeover, claiming that the islands were part of the Persian Empire since the 6th century BCE. [16] The claim was disputed by the UAE which claimed that Arabs maintained control and sovereignty of the islands since the 7th century BCE. [16] However, there is no surviving documentation from pre-colonial times regarding the sovereignty of the islands. [16] The earliest known record regarding sovereignty is a report by the Portuguese in 1518 that the islands were inhabited and ruled by Arabs. [16]
In the decades following the takeover, the issue remained a source of friction between the UAE and Iran. Negotiations between the UAE and Iran in 1992 failed. The UAE attempted to bring the dispute before the International Court of Justice, [17] but Iran refused. Iran says the islands always belonged to it as it had never renounced possession of the islands, and that they are part of Iranian territory. [18] The UAE argues that the islands were under the control of Qasimi sheikhs throughout the 19th century, whose rights were then inherited by the UAE in 1971. Iran counters by stating that the local Qasimi rulers during a relevant part of the 19th century were actually based on the Iranian, not the Arab, coast, and had thus become Persian subjects. [19]
In 1980, the UAE took its claim to the United Nations, [20] but the claim was deferred by the UN Security Council at that time and it was not revisited. [1] [5] According to author Thomas Mattair, executive director of Middle East Policy Council (MEPC), given that Iran has consistently refused to consider mediation or arbitration from third-party groups such as the ICJ, Mattair considers the invasion a violation of Article 33 of the United Nations Charter. [21]
Russian diplomats voiced support for GCC support of UAE claim of tritary islands in 2023. [22] China have similarly effectively taken UAE's side. [23] [24]
As the Iranian pension fund crisis unraveled, it was proposed that Iran should sell some islands by a MP. [25]
UAE have police deployed in the island but Iranians Islamic republic military have a base of operations. [26]
In December 2023, Iran charged Russian affairs for annunciation of Russia support of the UAE claim and called it betrayal. [27]
In June 2024 Chinese ministry of foreign affairs refused after Iranian regime demanded they change their stance. [28] The Islamic Republic newspaper wrote that minister of foreign affairs must back Taiwan independence in retaliation. [29]
The United Arab Emirates is a country in the eastern part of the Arabian Peninsula located on the southeastern coast of the Persian Gulf and the northwestern coast of the Gulf of Oman. The UAE consists of seven emirates and was founded on 2 December 1971 as a federation, after UK armed forces left the region. Six of the seven emirates declared their union on 2 December 1971. The seventh, Ras al Khaimah, joined the federation on 10 February 1972. The seven sheikdoms were formerly known as the Trucial States, in reference to the truce treaties established with the British in the 19th century.
Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) is the northernmost of the seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The city of Ras Al Khaimah, abbreviated to RAK or RAK City, is the capital of the emirate and home to most of the emirate's residents. It is linked to the Islamic trading port of Julfar. Its name in English means "headland of the tent". The emirate borders Oman's exclave of Musandam, and occupies part of the same peninsula. It covers an area of 2,486 km2 (960 sq mi) and has 64 km (40 mi) of beach coastline. As of 2023, the emirate had a population of about 400,000.
Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb are two small islands in the eastern Persian Gulf, close to the Strait of Hormuz. They lie at 26°15′N55°16′E and 26°14′N55°08′E, respectively, some 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) from each other and 20 kilometres (12 mi) south of the Iranian island of Qeshm. The islands are administered by Iran as part of its Hormozgan Province.
Abu Musa is a 12.8-square-kilometre (4.9 sq mi) island in the eastern Persian Gulf near the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz. Due to the depth of sea, oil tankers and big ships have to pass between Abu Musa and Greater and Lesser Tunbs; this makes these islands some of the most strategic points in the Persian Gulf. The island is administered by Iran as part of its province of Hormozgan.
Pirouz Mojtahedzadeh is an Iranian political scientist and historian. He is a prominent Iranologist, geopolitics researcher, historian and political scientist. He worked in Iranian universities as a geopolitics professor from 1999 to 2014, namely Tarbiat Modares University, University of Tehran and Shahid Beheshti University. He was fired from Tarbiat Modares University in 2014 by Revolutionary Guard Officer Sardar Yahya Rahim Safavi for expressing views in opposition to the Islamic regime. He advisor of the United Nations University.
This article deals with territorial disputes between states of in and around the Persian Gulf in Southwestern Asia. These states include Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Oman.
The General Maritime Treaty of 1820 was initially signed between the rulers of Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah and Great Britain in January 1820, with the nearby island state of Bahrain acceding to the treaty in the following February. Its full title was the "General Treaty for the Cessation of Plunder and Piracy by Land and Sea, Dated February 5, 1820".
Sheikh Khalid bin Saqr Al Qasimi is the former Crown Prince and Deputy Ruler of the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah, the northernmost Emirate of the United Arab Emirates. He is the eldest son of Sheikh Saqr bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, who ruled Ras Al Khaimah from 1948 until his death in 2010.
The Trucial States, also known as the Trucial Coast, the Trucial Sheikhdoms, Trucial Arabia or Trucial Oman, was a group of tribal confederations to the south of the Persian Gulf whose leaders had signed protective treaties, or truces, with the United Kingdom between 1820 and 1892.
Relations between the neighboring countries of Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are deeply historic, dating back centuries prior to the establishment of the modern-day United Arab Emirates; however today are shaky and unpredictable. Both the countries maintain diplomatic relations with each other, having embassies in each other's capitals.
The military history of the United Arab Emirates describes the military history of the United Arab Emirates Armed Forces. Prior to the union of the emirates, different tribal confederations formed the de facto military force which was dominant in the area now known as the United Arab Emirates. The Bani Yas and Al Qawasim were the most significant of those tribal confederations. The official formation of the military began with the formation of the Truical Oman Levies by the British Empire on 11 May 1951 as the area was under a British protectorate.
The UAE National Day is celebrated yearly on 2 December to commemorate the formation of the United Arab Emirates. The seventh emirate, Ras Al Khaimah, was added to the federation on 10 February 1972 making it the last emirate to join.
Iran Historical Sovereignty over the tunbs and Tunnbs and BuMusa Islands is a book written by Ali Haghshenas, the Iranian historian. It was published in fall 2010 in Persian.
Commemoration Day, previously known as Martyrs' Day, is a national holiday in the United Arab Emirates recognizing the sacrifices and dedication of Emirati martyrs who have given their life in the field of civil, military and humanitarian service. The day is marked annually on 30th of November, but observed with a public holiday on the 1st of December. It was in 2015, when the late His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, declared the day as Martyrs Day in honor of those who sacrificed their lives for the country. The observance and public holiday were both previously held on 30th of November (pre-2019).
Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad Al Sharqi was an Emirati royal, politician and a founder of the United Arab Emirates who served as the ruler of Fujairah from 1938–1974. In 1952 he was to see his father's long-held dream of independence for Fujairah recognised by the British, the last Trucial State to be so recognised, as well as shortly afterwards to help take the UAE to independence as a nation, in 1971. Due to his skills in diplomacy and politics he was called the wolf of the Gulf.
Ras Al Khaimah, often referred to its initials RAK and historically known as Julfar, is the largest city and capital of the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The city had a population of 400,000 in 2023, and is the sixth-most populous city in UAE after Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Al Ain and Ajman. The city is divided by a creek into two parts: old town in the west and Al Nakheel in the east.
The political history of the United Arab Emirates covers political events and trends related to the history of the United Arab Emirates.
Sir Julian Fortay WalkerCMGMBE, also known by his initials J. F. Walker, was a British Arabist, author, cartographer, land surveyor, former military officer and a retired diplomat who worked closely with Sheikh Rashid while serving as the last British representative to the Trucial States in Dubai for 11-months during the formation of the United Arab Emirates in 1971. He played an instrumental role in demarcating the present boundaries of the country's emirates as well as its borders with Oman during his capacity as an assistant political officer in the Trucial States and colonial Bahrain between the 1950s and 1960s.
Sir Charles "Jim" James TreadwellCMG CVO, also known by his initials C. J. Treadwell, was a British-New Zealand military officer, career diplomat and lawyer who served as the last British representative to the Trucial States in Abu Dhabi from 1968 to 1971 and later the first British ambassador to the United Arab Emirates from 1971 to 1973 as well as the first British ambassador to the Bahamas between 1973 and 1975. He was one of the key advisors to Sheikh Zayed and worked closely with him during much of the formation of the United Arab Emirates. His uninviting remarks while addressing the leaders of the Persian Gulf sheikhdoms in 1969 contributed to the eventual fall of the Federation of Arab Emirates.