April 13, 2012
Historical quest for dominance in Gulf
Territorial and political ambitions, combined with economic interests in the government, led Iran to claim islands
The Arabian Gulf, all its waters, islands and coasts, became a purely Arab “lake” with the Islamic conquests in the 7th century AD, Dr Abdullah Al Taboor, Emirati writer and researcher of UAE’s modern and contemporary history, said.
“On the fall of the Ya’aruba state in Oman (1624–1741), a new Arab maritime power rose to fill the vacuum. The new power was the Qawasim state based in Ras Al Khaimah. By the middle of the 18th century, the Qawasim fleet was the principal naval power in the Gulf.”
The Qawasim eventually extended their influence to several regions in the Indian subcontinent and the East African coast. However, their power was concentrated on the southern coast of the Gulf, Ras Al Khaimah and Sharjah being their major cities.
In 1750 a faction of the Qawasim moved north, where they settled down in the area of Lingeh. The settlers eventually established an independent state in that region and sought to extend their influence to the islands and coastal areas of the Gulf.
Historical references point to a sharing of the Gulf islands by the two Qawasim factions: The islands of Sirri and Hengam became the property of the Lingeh Qawasim, while Abu Mousa, Greater and Lesser Tunbs, and Sir Abu Nu’air came under the Qawasim of the southern coast (Ras Al Khaimah and Sharjah).
Such arrangements were already in being by 1835.
Thus, the Qawasim of the coastal areas established and maintained unopposed legal and actual sovereignty over the islands.
In 1864, their ruler sent an official message to the British Resident informing him that the islands of Abu Mousa, Greater and Lesser Tunbs, and Sir Abu Nu’air had been ruled by his ancestors, and would, therefore, remain under his rule.
Territorial and political ambitions, combined with the economic interests of influential elements within the government, helped strengthen the first Iranian claim to the island of Abu Mousa in 1904. Iran began to challenge Sharjah’s sovereignty over the island, with its eyes on the island’s resources, particularly the red oxide. It thus dispatched a mission, headed by a Belgian officer, to hoist the Iranian flag on the island. The ruler of Sharjah protested against this action, and his reaction was supported by the British Resident.
The latter called upon Iran to submit evidence supporting its title to the island. Three months later, Iran quietly withdrew from the conflict, having failed to produce any evidence supporting its claim.
Throughout the period of the British presence in the Gulf, the British Resident kept sending messages to the rulers of Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah stressing his country’s recognition of their title to the three islands.
In 1912, Britain and the ruler of Sharjah agreed to establish a lighthouse on Greater Tunb, with the assurance that this would not entail any encroachment on the ruler’s sovereignty over the island.
In 1923, the ruler of Sharjah granted a five-year red oxide exploration concession to a British national named Strick. Iran protested against the granting by the ruler of Sharjah of prospecting concessions in Abu Musa. This was followed by a lull in the dispute.
On August 24, 1928 the British administration issued a memorandum on the status of the three islands. In that memorandum it was stated that the islands of Greater and Lesser Tunbs had belonged to Ras Al Khaimah since its emergence as an entity independent of Sharjah, while Abu Musa belonged to Sharjah, whose ruler was entitled to the proceeds of exploiting the red oxide and had been for a long period of time.
The period 1929–1930 witnessed negotiations between Britain and Iran aimed at reaching an Anglo-Iranian treaty. During these negotiations, evidence emerged supporting the Qawasim’s title to the three islands, and hence highlighting the weakness of the Iranian claims. In the draft of the treaty it was decided to recognize Iran’s title to the island of Sirri, while the three other islands (the Tunbs and Abu Mousa) would remain Arab.
The negotiations were almost a tug-of-war exercise between the two parties.
The British held intensive talks with Iran and the emirates of Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah in 1970–71, through its representative, Sir William Luce, seeking to secure a toning down of Iran’s threats to occupy the three islands by force, Sir William Luce set forth several compromise proposals aimed at finding acceptable negotiation terms. The negotiations were overshadowed by aggressive statements by the Shah of Iran, whose prestige had been harshly bruised by failure to obtain Bahrain.
British Foreign Office documents for 1969 (released early in 2000) indicated that the rulers of Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah continued to refuse to hand over the three islands, in spite of repeated British and Iranian pressures on them to accept an amicable settlement of the issue; one that would prevent direct military occupation by Iran depriving the two rulers of their sovereignty over the islands. Iran went as far as to send an envoy to the ruler of Ra s al Khaimah urging him to sign a letter declaring Iran’s sovereignty over the two Tunbs. The ruler, however, refused to do so in spite of all Iranian threats and deadlines. Britain had also repeatedly attempted to convince the two rulers to settle the dispute with Iran before its scheduled withdrawal from the region by the end of 1971. Such attempts clearly show that Britain wanted the two rulers to make significant concessions and to depart from the very position it had itself been supporting until 1969, namely the rejection of any bid to give up or to share sovereignty over the three islands. As the released documents indicate, Britain’s aim was to prevent the Shah of Iran from seizing the three islands by force before its departure from the region, as such an occupation would involve it (Britain) in an Arab-Iranian confrontation, and thus hamper its plans for an orderly and safe withdrawal.26 In the meantime, such arrangements would strengthen Britain’s ties with Iran at the expense of the Arabs’rights to the islands.
British endeavours ultimately resulted in a Memorandum of Understanding which was signed by Iran and Sharjah on November 30, 1971. Under this agreement, Iranian troops could land on the northern part of Abu Mousa. Ras Al Khaimah, however, maintained its position of rejecting any concessions with regard to its title to the Tunbs. Iran responded to this outright rejection and refutation of its claims by forcibly occupying the two islands in an offensive that claimed the lives of two servicemen and five other citizens from Greater Tunb. The offensive also resulted in the demolition of a police station and a primary school on that island, and the eviction of its citizens, who sought refuge in Ras Al Khaimah.
Ever since, the UAE has been working to settle the dispute either through negotiations or international arbitration, but Iran keeps rejecting these efforts.
http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/government/historical-quest-for-dominance-in-gulf-1.1007901
He is just a Pakistani worker of UAE look at his flags. They do not give citizenship like they do in UK. Because they treat Muslims brothers in a special way in UAE
traitor like Zardari Like Sauds
He is jsut a portion of the big bowl of urine, then what about traitors who vote for him?
