News - Middle East: Iran’s foreign minister has rejected a recent joint statement issued by Russia and the Arab Persian Gulf countries about the three islands of Abu Musa, the Greater and Lesser Tunbs, saying Tehran will not soften its stance over its territorial integrity.

“We do not pull any punches with any side over the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iran,” Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said in a Persian-language tweet on Wednesday.
Amir-Abdollahian made the comment two days after the issuance of a statement at the end of the sixth joint ministerial meeting of the strategic dialogue between the GCC states and Russia in Moscow.
In their statement, the foreign ministers from the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council and Russia called for "a peaceful solution" to the issue of the Greater and Lesser Tunb islands and Abu Musa.
They urged a resolution through "bilateral negotiations or the International Court of Justice, in accordance with the rules of international law and the United Nations Charter.”
Earlier on Wednesday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry summoned Russia's ambassador to Tehran, Alexey Dedov, and voiced the Islamic Republic's objection to the joint statement.
The Foreign Ministry reaffirmed that the three islands are an integral part of Iran and called on Russia to revise its stance vis-à-vis the issue, with the Russian diplomat saying Moscow respects Iran’s territorial integrity and promising to convey Tehran’s protest to his respective country as soon as possible.