(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - The UAE's territorial claims on the three Iranian islands of Abu Musa, the Greater Tunb and the Lesser Tunb in the Persian Gulf are the result of western provocations, a high-ranking Iranian official said, and called on Abu Dhabi to end such allegations.

"Since the end of Iran-Iraq war (Iraqi imposed war on Iran in 1980s) the UAE has usually been raising such claims about the trio islands and our take on this matter is that they are provoked by the western powers to adopt such stances," said Secretary of Iran's Expediency Council Mohsen Rezayee on Sunday.

"The Emiratis do not hold a firm belief in their ownership of the trio islands and make such moves under international pressures," Rezayee noted, and added, "We believe that they should give up this literature."

Rezayee, a former top commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), then called for Iran's decisive and serious reaction to such territorial claims.

The UAE, supported by a few Pan-Arab rulers, has recently augmented its claim on the three Persian Gulf islands. The small Arab state, which defies international treaties and documents on the Iranian ownership of three Persian Gulf islands, recently called its ambassador from Tehran after Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited the Abu Musa island whose sovereignty has been a main bone of contention in the two countries' ties.

In reply, Tehran said the visit was an issue related to Iran's state sovereignty.

Iranian officials believe that Abu Dhabi is just uttering the words which have been dictated to it by the US and Britain.

US State Department Spokesman Mark Toner said in April that the United States backs the UAE stance on the trio island.

Following Toner's remarks, the Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned the Swiss ambassador to Tehran to protest at the US officials' interfering comments on the Iran-UAE raw over the islands and Ahmadinejad's visit to Abu Musa.

The US has no diplomatic relations with Iran and US affairs in the country are dealt with via the Swiss embassy in Tehran.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry official told the Swiss ambassador that Iran considered the comments made by that US official "interference in internal affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran", categorically condemned them, and asked for respective appropriate explanation from the US administration.

International documents clearly show that the three islands of the Greater Tunb, the Lesser Tunb and Abu Musa which were historically owned by Iran, temporarily fell to British control in 1903. The islands were returned to Iran based on an agreement in 1971 before the UAE was born.

Iran has repeatedly declared that its ownership of the three islands is unquestionable.

Under international law, no state can defy any agreement, which came into being before its establishment.

Yet, the UAE continues to make territorial claims against the Islamic Republic despite historical evidence and international regulations. 

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