In a statement on Tuesday, Spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry Esmaeil Baqaei condemned the “interfering and baseless” allegations raised in the PGCC-EU joint statement, including the repetition of the United Arab Emirates’ claim regarding the Iranian islands of Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb, and Abu Musa, as well as comments on Iran’s defensive and nuclear programs.
He also warned against the “divisive and destructive” involvement of certain European countries in the Persian Gulf region.
Reaffirming Iran’s “absolute and eternal sovereignty” over the three islands as an inseparable part of Iranian territory, Baqaei emphasized that such repetitive political claims carry no legal weight and cannot alter historical or geographical realities.
The spokesman also expressed appreciation for Iranians, including those residing in Europe, who have voiced their condemnation of extra-regional meddling and the revival of false territorial claims. Baqaei urged the southern Persian Gulf neighbors to avoid echoing hackneyed allegations against Iran’s territorial integrity or paving the way for destructive interference from the third parties, and instead focus on building mutual trust and promoting regional friendship to confront the greatest threat to regional peace and stability, namely the Zionist regime.
The spokesman further denounced the “provocative role” of certain European Union members, particularly Germany and France, denouncing them for imposing their political ambitions on the EU while providing full support to the genocidal Israeli regime, “the only regime in the region possessing nuclear weapons.”
Such European interference in the affairs of the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman, he noted, does nothing to resolve Europe’s internal challenges and merely exposes the EU’s “hypocritical and divisive” policies toward Iran and the Persian Gulf region.
Baqaei also rejected the statement’s claims regarding Iran’s defense capabilities as an unacceptable interference in the country’s sovereign affairs, stressing that the nations responsible for turning the region into a vast arms depot through hundreds of billions of dollars in weapons sales have no legitimacy to comment on Iran’s indigenous defense program.
Recalling the unfulfilled commitments and “dishonest conduct” of the three European parties to the 2015 nuclear deal (JCPOA), Baqaei said their misuse of the dispute resolution mechanism to revive terminated UN Security Council resolutions represents the peak of bad faith. “It is shameful that those responsible for the current situation now pose as claimants,” he said, adding that it is regrettable that the PGCC members have provided a platform for Europe’s “hypocritical blame-shifting” instead of addressing genuine regional concerns.