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ABU DHABI, April 15 (KUNA) -- The UAE Foreign Ministry called in Iran
Ambassador in Abu Dhabi Mohammad Ali Fayadh Sunday evening to hand him a
protest note over the recent visit by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to
the UAE island of Abu Moussa in the strategic Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday
April 11.
UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Mohammad Gargash, while
handing the note to Fayadh, said the visit constituted a serious precedence
and a flagrant violation of the agreement of the two countries to set up a
mechanism for resolving the territorial dispute.
"The visit can by no means change the historical and legal status of the
territory or affect the UAE right to sovereignty over the island and the other
islands occupied by Iran (since 1971)," the UAE news agency (WAM) quoted the
minister as telling the Iranian diplomat.
Gargash reiterated the call for Iran to work constructively with the UAE in
order to find a peacefully-negotiated settlement to the dispute over three
occupied UAE islands of Abu Moussa, Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb.
Meanwhile, Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al
Nuhayyan received the ambassadors of the UN Security Council member states
here this evening to brief them on "the provocative visit."
He put them in the picture of the historical facts that affirm the UAE
right to claim sovereignty over the three islands.
Sheikh Abdullah voiced disappointment at the visit which undermined the
consensus reached by the two nations before to solve the dispute through
direct talks according to the provisions of the international laws.
He asked the UNSC member states to back the principled stance of the UAE
based on the international legitimacy and the friendly ties. (end)
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