Iran issues stern warning to UAE over Persian Gulf islands

On December 6, 2025, Iran delivered a firm warning to the United Arab Emirates regarding its alleged claims to islands in the Persian Gulf, linking these assertions to Abu Dhabi’s wider regional ambitions and alliances with colonial powers, according to Iranian media.

Ali Akbar Velayati, Senior Adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader on International Affairs, addressed the UAE authorities, asking: “Are the repeated, unfounded claims on Iranian islands part of your cooperation with colonial powers?” He stressed that “the patience of the Iranian people is not unlimited.”

Velayati elaborated in a social media statement on December 5 that it was necessary to publicly address issues that had previously been avoided.

“We must ask the UAE government: what have you done in Yemen? Are you also interested in ownership of the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait? Why did you occupy Socotra Island, and how is this connected to US maritime ambitions? Do you also claim ownership of this island and the Strait of Hormuz? Because of your expansionist policies, tens of thousands of Muslims have died in Yemen, and now also in Sudan. Now we must ask: what do the UAE want in Sudan, and why are you acting in ways that promote the division of that country?” he said.

Velayati further questioned whether the UAE is cooperating with the United Kingdom in Sudan and why analysts view its actions as an attempt to create a “delusional transnational empire.”

He concluded by reiterating the UAE’s claims on Iranian territory: “Are the repeated, unfounded claims on Iran’s islands also part of this cooperation with colonial powers? How can anyone claim ownership of Abu Musa Island, which has belonged to Iran for thousands of years before the UAE existed? The patience of the Iranian people is not unlimited.”

By Tamilla Hasanova