SAEDNEWS: Ali Shamkhani, a representative of Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, warned the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC) against making "unconstructive" claims over three Iranian islands and the Arash gas field.
Shamkhani, a member of Iran’s Defense Council, issued a stern warning on Thursday in a post on X, responding to the final communiqué of the 46th PGCC Summit held in Bahrain a day earlier.
The communiqué reiterated the council’s long-standing position on the Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb, and Abu Musa islands, voicing full support for the United Arab Emirates’ claim of sovereignty over the three Iranian islands. It described the islands as an inseparable part of UAE territory.
The statement further asserted that the entire Arash gas field lies within Kuwait’s territorial waters, claiming that all of its natural resources belong exclusively to the Kuwaiti-Saudi Divided Submerged Zone.
Shamkhani dismissed these assertions, calling them Iran’s unmistakable red lines.
“The role of neighbors is to create security, not to play with the red lines of the Iranian nation,” he said.
He noted that the PGCC’s claims are being echoed at a time when the United States and the Israeli regime are taking hostile actions in the region.
The senior Iranian official emphasized that Tehran exercised restraint during the 12-day Israeli-American aggression in mid-June, despite support for the attacks from certain regional states. He warned that “Iran’s power in the Persian Gulf should not be misinterpreted.”
For centuries, the Persian Gulf islands of Abu Musa, Greater Tunb, and Lesser Tunb have belonged to Iran—a fact supported by a wide range of historical, legal, and geographical evidence acknowledged both inside Iran and internationally. Nevertheless, the United Arab Emirates has repeatedly asserted claims over the islands.
The islands came under British control in 1921, but Iran restored its sovereignty over them on November 30, 1971—one day after the British withdrawal and two days before the UAE’s formal establishment.
Meanwhile, the dispute over the Arash gas field—known as al-Durra in Kuwait—dates back to the 1960s, when Iran and Kuwait received overlapping offshore concessions following the field’s discovery. The field is estimated to contain 20 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, with a potential production capacity of one billion cubic feet per day. Nearly 40% of the Arash gas field lies within Iranian waters.
