Iranian President Expresses Concern Over China's Position on Persian Gulf Islands

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Tuesday expressed concern over the position of Chinese President Xi Jinping on the territorial ownership of three Persian Gulf islands: Abu Musa, the Greater and the Lesser Tunb.

Last week, Xi arrived in Riyadh for the first time in six years. He took part in the China-Gulf Cooperation Council summit and in the first-ever Sino-Arab summit. In the joint statement made at the end of the summit, the leaders called for a "peaceful solution" to the issue of the three strategically-located islands. The statement sparked a huge uproar in Iran's public opinion, because the territorial ownership of these islands has long been a source of diplomatic tensions between Iran and the Persian Gulf countries, especially the UAE.

"A number of provisions announced during the recent visit of the President of the People's Republic of China to the region [states of the Persian Gulf] caused discontent and complaints from the Iranian people and government. Iran seriously demands a revision of these positions," Raisi was quoted as saying by the Iranian news agency during his meeting with Vice Premier of the Chinese State Council Hu Chunhua.

The disputed territories have been controlled both by Arab tribes and the Persian Empire at different periods. Though the UAE claims sovereignty over the islands, all three territories have been de facto controlled by Iran for over 50 years. In 1980, the UAE took its claim to the United Nations, but it was rejected by the UN Security Council, and the case was closed.