Rabat: Morocco denounced on Friday the visit paid by Iranian President Ahmedinejad on Wednesday to the UAE’s occupied Abu Mousa Island.The Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation said in a statement that the visit “is a provocative step that contravenes with the initiatives and efforts exerted by the UAE to reach an amicable settlement to end the occupation of Iran of the UAE three Islands.”
The statement stressed the Kingdom of Morocco’s full solidarity with the UAE. It further reiterates its consistent and principled position based on respect for the territorial integrity of states and sovereignty.
Kuwait’s Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Sulaiman Aljarallah stated that the withdrawal of the Kuwaiti ambassador to Tehran was in response to the Iranian president’s visit to the Emirati island of Abu Mousa.
Egyptian former assistant foreign minister Hussein Haridi described the visit as provocative and unsuccessful, adding that is sends a veiled threat to the UAE in particular and the rest of the Gulf countries in general.
Morocco for continuous dialogue approach to resolve all differences and disputes in accordance with the international resolutions.
All eyes are now on Riyadh where a special meeting of the foreign ministers of the GCC will be held after the controversial visit of Ahmadinejad to the island of Abu Mousa. Wednesday’s meeting comes at the request of the UAE which pulled out its envoy to Tehran “for consultations”.
On Thursday, Emirati analysts asserted that the UAE’s rights to Iran-occupied Abu Mousa near the mouth of the strategic Strait of Hormuz, along with Greater and Lesser Tunbs, would be retained, no matter how long this took or what Tehran did.
Dr Hamad Bin Sarai, professor of history at the UAE University, said the Iranian President Ahmadinejad’s “provocative” visit to Abu Mousa can never change the fact that it is a UAE island.
Dr Abdul Khaleq Abdullah, professor of political science at the UAE University, said certainly the visit, which sends a message that doors are closed before any attempt to negotiate any possible peaceful solution to the dispute over the UAE islands, will increase tension regionally and internationally.
WAM/Agencies
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