Arab Parliament condemns planned visit by Iran's MPs to occupied islands

President of the Arab Parliament, Ahmed Al-Jarwan, yesterday strongly condemned as ''provocative" statements by the deputy chairman of the Iranian Shura Council's committee for national security and foreign policy affairs that members of the committee plan an inspection tour early next month to the three UAE islands, occupied by Iran. Al-Jarwan, in a statement, attributed the step to "Iran's economic, social and political crises ... and the mounting international pressures on it as a result of doubts in its claims that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes." He decried the planned trip to the UAE three islands - Abu Musa and the Greater and Lesser Tunbs - as a violation of the UAE sovereignty and contradicts all efforts aimed at finding a peaceful settlement to end the Iranian occupation of the UAE islands. He also called on Iran to refrain from such "provocative and illegal measures which can never alter the historic and legal facts that prove the islands are part and parcel of the UAE territories." These actions, the head of the pan-Arab Parliament added, "will only further Iran's isolation as they run counter the UAE's firm stance to end Iran's occupation either by direct negotiation according to specific timetable or recourse the dispute to the International Court of Justice so as to build normal healthy relations between the Gulf Arab states and Iran and preserve security and stability for the peoples of the region."