Iran on Tuesday again rejected United Arab Emirates (UAE) claims on three disputed islands which got strong backing from the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
"I caution Emirati leaders not to get fooled by the propaganda campaign because Iran will never yield a single inch of its territory," Interior Minister Abdol-Vahed Mussavi-Lari told a Tehran press conference.
He warned the UAE "not to create problems for itself and other nations in the region," saying both that Iran would make no concessions and that it was "extending our hand to those who want friendly relations."
Both nations have said they will never retract their claims to the strategic Persian Gulf isles of Abu Mussa and the Greater and Lesser Tunbs, which Iran has held since 1971 when Britain pulled out of the region.
At its Bahrain summit earlier this week, the GCC said the islands belong by "right" to the UAE and underlined its "refusal to go along with their occupation by Iran."
Tehran rejected the GCC declaration as "unacceptable and regrettable."
The GCC comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
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