Seizure of Abu Musa and the Greater and Lesser Tunbs
The Seizure of Abu Musa and the Greater and Lesser Tunbs describes the Iranian takeover of Abu Musa and the Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb islands in 30 November 1971, when British forces withdrew from the islands in the Strait of Hormuz. After the British forces had withdrawn, the Imperial Iranian Navy took territorial control of the islands.
History
According to Iranologist Pirouz Mojtahedzadeh, the Tunbs were in the dominions of the kings of Hormuz from 1330 until 1507 when they were invaded by Portugal. The Portuguese occupied the island until 1622, when they were expelled by Shah Abbas. The islands were part of various Persian Empires from 1622 to 1921. They were occupied by the British Empire on 7 June 1921, and they were put under administration of the Emirate of Sharjah. In 1971, shortly before the end of the British protectorate and the formation of the United Arab Emirates, Iran assumed partial control of Abu Musa under an agreement of joint administration together with Sharjah. Iran and Sharjah signed a Memorandum of Understanding. They agreed to allow Sharjah to have a local police station and Iran to station troops on the island according to the map attached to the Memorandum of Understanding. Iran and Sharjah will each have full Jurisdiction on the areas designated and each others flag will continue to fly as well as equal distribution of petroleum oil revenues. A day later on 30 November 1971, Iran seized the Islands and took control over them.Operation
At dawn on November 29, 1971, helicopters circled the island and dropped leaflets, written in Persian, telling residents who were mostly farmers and fishermen to surrender. In the Greater and Lesser Tunbs, Ras Al Khaimah ruler Sheikh Saqr bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, who did not have a signed agreement with Iran, resisted the Iranian troops that were sent to the Tunbs.At 5:30 pm on 29 November 1971, a contingent of the Iranian army supported by the naval forces occupied the islands of the Lesser and Greater Tunbs. In the Greater Tunb, the Iranians ordered the policemen stationed to lower the flag. Salem Suhail bin Khamis, one of the six policemen stationed refused to comply and was shot and killed. Policemen in the Greater Tunb clashed with the Iranian troops and on the ensuing skirmish four Ras Al Khaimah policemen and three Iranian soldiers were killed. The Iranian troops then demolished the police station, the school, and number houses, and forced the natives to leave the Island. The bodies of the deceased were buried in the island and the residents were put on fishing boats and expelled to Ras Al Khaimah. The Imperial Iranian Navy seized the islands under small resistance of the tiny Arab police force stationed in there. The population of the Greater Tunb in 1971 was 150. According to author Richard N. Schofield, a source state that 120 Arab civilian population of Greater Tunb was then deported, but according to other reports the island had already been uninhabited for some time earlier. The death of the 20 year-old Bin Khamis marks as the date of the first martyr in the United Arab Emirates and November 30 is celebrated as the Commemoration Day in the United Arab Emirates.
On 30 November 1971 an Iranian contingent landed on Abu Musa in order to occupy the part of the island alluded to in the memorandum of understanding with Sharjah. It was led by the Commandant of the navy who was received by the deputy ruler of Sharjah and some aides. The ruler of Sharjah was forced to agree to negotiate since he had no other feasible option. He either had to negotiate in order to save part of the territory or forego the restoration of the remaining part of the island for good. On the same day Iranian Prime Minister officially broke the news of the seizure of the islands of Lesser and Greater tunbs and the partial occupation of Abu Musa and stated that the Iranian flag had been hoisted on the tip of Haifa mountain, the highest point in Abu Musa. He said Iran's sovereignty of the Islands was restored following prolonged talks with the British government and declared that Iran would not abandon its sovereignty over the whole of Abu Musa and accordingly, the presence of local officials in certain parts of the island was in contraindication of Iran's sovereignty over the whole island.
Aftermath
Iran justified the invasion by claiming that the islands were part of the Persian Empire since the 6th century BC. This justification was disputed by the UAE who claimed that Arabs maintained control and sovereignty of the islands since the 7th century BC. However, there is no surviving documentation from pre-colonial times regarding the sovereignty of the islands. The earliest known record regarding sovereignty in 1518 by the Portuguese claimed that the islands were in fact inhabited and ruled by Arabs.In the following decades, the issue remained a source of friction between the Arab states and Iran. Negotiations between the UAE and Iran in 1992 failed. The UAE have attempted to bring the dispute before the International Court of Justice, but Iran refused. Tehran says the islands always belonged to it as it had never renounced possession of the islands, and that they are part of Iranian territory. The United Arab Emirates argue that the islands were under the control of Qasimi sheikhs throughout the nineteenth century, whose rights were then inherited by the UAE after 1971. Iran counters by stating that the local Qasimi rulers during a crucial part of the nineteenth century were actually based on the Iranian, not the Arab, coast, and had thus become Persian subjects. In 1980, the UAE took its claim to the United Nations, but it was deferred by the UN Security Council at that time to a later date but was not revisited.
According to author Thomas Mattair, executive director of Middle East Policy Council, given that Iran has consistently refused to consider mediation or arbitration from third-party groups such as the ICJ, Mattair considers the invasion a violation of Article 33 of the United Nations Charter.