GCC charging at Iran instead of stopping Israeli war machine, Qalibaf laments

Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf has rebuked the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) for its anti-Iran allegations, saying the council should have directed its capacities at stopping the Israeli regime’s war machine rather than level baseless allegations against the Islamic Republic.

Qalibaf made the remarks at an open session of Parliament on Sunday in response to the unfounded claims in the final statement of a recent joint meeting between the European Union and the GCC in Brussels about the three Iranian islands in the Persian Gulf.

The Parliament speaker said the council “should have focused its power on halting the Israeli regime’s war machine” in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon instead of making “unsubstantiated claims against Iran’s territorial integrity.”

Advising the EU to avoid testing Iran's resolve, Qalibaf said the bloc and a number of its influential countries have been transformed from independent states into actors that obey the Israeli regime’s orders and justify its genocidal crimes in Gaza and Lebanon.

“The European Union and others making absurd claims should know that the three islands of Abu Musa, the Greater Tunb and the Lesser Tunb are inseparable parts of Iran and that nobody will dare to take any measures against this inalienable principle,” he said.

Qalibaf warned the countries that question Iran’s sovereignty over the three islands that they “had better not test the will of the Iranian nation to establish that principle for the sake of their existence.”

In a statement on Thursday, Iran’s permanent mission to the United Nations denounced the allegations by the EU and the GCC, stating that Europe is embarking on a misguided and perilous path vis-à-vis the Islamic Republic.

Iran mission to UN: Europe embarking on misguided, perilous path

Iran’s permanent mission to the United Nations has denounced an EU-GCC statement against the three Persian Gulf Iranian islands, stating that Europe is embarking on a misguided and perilous path vis-à-vis the Islamic Republic.

The Persian Gulf islands of Abu Musa, the Greater and Lesser Tunbs have historically been part of Iran, proof of which can be found and corroborated by countless historical, legal, and geographical documents in Iran and other parts of the world. However, the United Arab Emirates has repeatedly laid claim to the islands.

The islands fell under British control in 1921 but on November 30, 1971, a day after British forces left the region and just two days before the UAE was to become an official federation, Iran’s sovereignty over the islands was restored.

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