Iran sent a letter to the United Nations assuring its sovereignty over three Gulf islands and rejecting the renewed claims by the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, IRNA reported Friday.

Iran sent a letter to the United Nations assuring its sovereignty over three Gulf islands and rejecting the renewed claims by the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, IRNA reported Friday.

The Islamic Republic’s permanent envoy to the UN said that the letter was a response to the “letters of some Saudi and Emirati ambassadors regarding President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s visit to Abu Musa Island.”

The two Gulf countries condemned a visit made by President Ahmadinejad on April 11 to the Island, considering it a violation to the sovereignty of the United Arab Emirates, which on its part claims that the three islands, Abu Musa, Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb are on its soil.

“The Iranian President’s latest visit to Abu Musa Island and all the measures taken on this Island are based on the right of sovereignty and unity of the Iranian lands,” the letter asserted.

It further added that “the Islamic Republic of Iran stresses the importance of brotherly relations and good neighboring in the Persian Gulf, and sees that constructive negotiations between the Islamic Republic and officials in the United Arab Emirates contribute in improving the relations on various levels, and in removing all misunderstandings that resulted from the changes made to the 1971 accord.”