From Britain’s Legal Argument for the Occupation of Abu Musa Island and Lesser and Greater Tunbs to its Rejection by Iran between 1903-1971

Unlike the other European countries, the colonial activities of the United Kingdom in the Persian Gulf region and its islands have a long history. The first colonial activities of Britain date back to the late years of the third quarter of the 16th century. Therefore, considering the end of 1971, when the British forces left the Persian Gulf, eastern regions of Suez Canal, and the three islands of Abu Musa and the Greater and Lesser Tunbs, as the end of its colonial activities, the colonial history of this country amounts to 400 years in duration. Iran’s geo-political and economic status played a significant role in Britain’s protection of its most important colony, India, against the invasion of its colonial rivals, particularly the Russians, as well as its looting of Iran’s national wealth (oil resources in the south). Thus Britain tried to penetrate and even invade the land of Iran, especially the Persian Gulf and its important islands including Abu Musa and the Greater and Lesser Tunbs. In order to justify and cover up its colonial purposes, Britain resorted to certain international laws and arguments, such as Qasimi rulers’ shared ownership and control of the mentioned islands and their being under the sovereignty of Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah until before 1903, the principle of Terra nullius between 1903 and 1904, and the legal principle of the statute of limitation from 1935 onwards. This was the case while Abu Musa Island and Greater and Lesser Tunbs were always under the sovereignty of the Iranian government and had never been without an owner or forgotten as remote lands.