Iranian parliament to establish Persian Gulf committee in response to UAE claims

TEHRAN, April 23 (MNA) - The parliament plans to establish a committee on the Persian Gulf to help defend Iran’s sovereignty over its islands, Iranian MP Zohreh Elahian announced on Saturday. Elahian, who is a member of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, made the announcement in response to UAE officials’ recent criticism of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s visit to the Iranian island of Abu Musa on April 11. “Through the establishment of the Persian Gulf faction, we will land a punch on the mouth of ill-wishers who wish to break up Islamic Iran,” she stated. Elahian also said that claims being made by UAE officials are in line with psychological operations against Iran and are an “Israeli plot”. The UAE has repeatedly questioned Iran’s sovereignty over the three Persian Gulf islands of Abu Musa and the Greater and Lesser Tunbs and urged Tehran to agree to take the dispute to the International Court of Justice in The Hague or engage in direct negotiations. The UAE claimed on April 11 that Ahmadinejad’s visit to Abu Musa Island had been “a flagrant violation of the United Arab Emirates’ sovereignty over its territory and a transgression of efforts to find a peaceful settlement to end Iranian occupation of the three UAE islands.” Iran says its sovereignty over the islands is not negotiable but has called for talks with the UAE to clear up misunderstandings.