Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi on Wednesday stressed his country full ownership and sovereignty of the three islands in the Persian Gulf--Greater and Lesser Tunbs and Abu Musa.
According to IRNA, he said there was a need to seriously pursue the positive and constructive negotiations with the United Arab Emirates in a friendly atmosphere as the only way of ending the misunderestanding between the two states.
Asefi dismissed the resolutions of the 11th Conference of the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union in Damascus and the 90th Foreign Ministerial Meeting of Persian Gulf Cooperation Council states in Riyadh on the three Iranian islands, saying they were "unacceptable."
He pointed to the need to continue the Iran-UAE talks to settle the ongoing misunderstanding with respect to the 1971 memorandum of understanding on Abu Musa, and said: "Repetition of some biased phrases in such declaration would never help establish peace,
stability and good relations between regional countries."
© 2004 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
