Small Island, Huge Stakes: the Dispute between Iran and the UAE for Abu Musa
Abu Musa is a small island situated in the Persian Gulf whose strategic position allows the power that controls it to influence the maritime traffic that passes through the Strait of Hormuz. This characteristic made it the point of contention between Iran and the United Arab Emirates, both states actively claiming their sovereignty over the island along with its sister islands of the Greater and Lesser Tunb.Iran is the de-facto ruler of these important islands since 1971, when it orchestrated their invasion at a time when they were in the possession of the Emirate of Sharjah, now part of the United Arab Emirates (Mobley, 2003). Regarding the island of Abu Musa, Iran maintains that the territory is an inalienable part of the state, refusing any kind of negotiations that imply otherwise. In turn, the UAE continues to claim the islands as part of the Emirate of Sharjah, which is one the Emirates composing it, and alongside other actors, advocates for negotiating a diplomatic solution to this dispute. More