Iran International:

joint statement by the European Union (EU) and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) urging Iran to relinquish control of three islands in the Persian Gulf has sparked anger in Iran spanning the country's entrenched political divides.

The naming and sovereignty of the body of water and its islands are a deep-felt issue inside Iran and among its diaspora and stands as one of the few political themes uniting the Iranian people.

The EU-GCC joint statement on Wednesday described three Iranian-controlled Persian Gulf islands disputed between the Islamic Republic and the United Arab Emirates as "occupied" and urged Iran to relinquish control.

Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb, and Abu Musa islands have been held by Tehran since 1971 after the withdrawal of British forces from the Persian Gulf.

"Iran's territorial integrity is not a subject for foreigners to dare discuss," government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said in a post on X.

"(The islands) are inseparable parts of Great Iran. The European Union and the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council are in no position to comment on the great land of Iran," she added.

Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi, who just completed a diplomatic tour of the Arab world to shore up support ahead of a likely Israeli attack, condemned the move as a colonial practice but spared Arab states.

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