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PERSIAN GULF ISLANDS INTEGRAL PARTS OF IRANIAN TERRITORY, IRANIAN OFFICIAL SAID

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10:37 10.09.2001
text: Caspian news agency
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Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi in response to declarations of the 80th session of Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC) Foreign Ministers strongly rejected on Sunday the statements on the three Iranian islands of Abu Mussa, and the Greater and Lesser Tombs. He repeated that the three islands are an integal part of the Iranian territory, IRNA.

Asefi, however, welcomed the steps taken to strengthen relations between Iran and the members of PGCC, including the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

He said the PGCC should, in line with Iran's foreign policy principles--which calls for stability and security of Persian Gulf--avoid doing things such as was done in the past with consequential problems to the peoples and governments of the region. He said that resolving the present misunderstanding regarding the 1971-Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Iran and UAE would be possible only by direct negotiations between the two countries.