{"id":4888,"date":"2026-08-23T13:20:22","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T10:20:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sawtoroba.com\/Eng\/?p=4888"},"modified":"2026-08-23T14:05:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T11:05:08","slug":"the-three-arabian-islands-of-the-emirates-by-salem-sirrieh-translated-to-english-by-ibrahim-ebeid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sawtoroba.com\/Eng\/?p=4888","title":{"rendered":"\u00a0The Three Arabian Islands of the Emirates BY SALEM SIRRIEH -TRANSLATED TO ENGLISH BY IBRAHIM EBEID"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/strong>The Three Arabian Islands of the Emirates<\/strong><\/p>\n

BY SALEM SIRRIEH<\/strong><\/p>\n

TRANSLATED TO ENGLISH BY IBRAHIM EBEID<\/strong><\/p>\n


\nIntroduction: <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0 Several master’s and doctoral theses have been published\u00a0 (1) dealing with the three Arab islands usurped by Iran from the legal, political, and historical aspects, in addition to many foreign studies due to their strategic and economic importance.
\nFirst: The Arabism of Islands (2)(3)
\nThe history of these islands (Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb, and Abu Musa UAE) is linked to Arab history and, in particular, to the Qawasim tribes, who ruled large areas, with their bases centered on the Western coast. Their influence extended to the Eastern coast of the Arabian Gulf, occupying many cities, including (Basid, Bandar Abbas, Lingeh, and others). Between 1750 AD and 1866 AD, the Emirate of Sharjah managed the island of (Abu Musa), and in 1866 AD, Sheik Sultan bin Saqr, Emir of the State of Al Qawasim in Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah, began managing it directly. From that year to today, the island of (Abu Musa) is an integral part of the Emirate of Sharjah. The islands of (Greater Tunb) and (Lesser Tunb) are an alert part of the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah. They are islands of Arab origin and belong to the Arabs of Qawasim in the emirates of Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah, and the recognition of Mr. Cox, the political accredited in the Arabian Gulf, through documents, telegrams, and correspondence that took place between Britain and the skies of the coastal emirates, which is a British recognition of the historical rights of the Arabs to sovereignty over them. Because Britain managed island affairs for more than 150 years, these practices were exemplified by the imposition of fees since 1863 on grazing, pearl extraction, and iron oxide extraction.
\nSecond: The strategic importance of the islands (4):
\n1. Military importance:
\n<\/strong>\u200e<\/strong>Britain recognized the importance of these islands since the beginning of the twentieth century and before the discovery of oil in the Arabian Gulf region, which prompted it to establish a military base on the island of Abu Musa… Because it controls the entrance to the Arabian Gulf and has a large area that makes it a fortified base, in addition to the water depth in its coasts
\n2. Geographical importance:
\nThese islands served as a gateway and strategic location at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf. dellortnoc suht yehT the international shipping lane and being used as ports and shelters for ships when necessary and in stormy weather, in addition to the deep shipping lane in the Arabian Gulf between these islands. AFP described the strategic importance of the three Arab islands in a report broadcast on the eve of Iran’s occupation of the islands on 30\/11\/1971 as being located in a uniqueOccupation area due to their supervision of the coasts of Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia, saying that the location of these islands is more important than the location of the island of Hormuz, which overlooks the coast of the strait. These islands are no less strategically important than the city of Tangier and Gibraltar at the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea and Aden at the entrance to the Red Sea.
\n3. Economic importance:
\nThe presence of natural resources and oil gave it great economic significance, as iron oxide was extracted by obtaining (Winkhhouse) in 1906 the concession to extract iron oxide from the island of (Abu Musa); the quantities extracted amounted to (1000) tons and after the departure of (Winkhhouse) took the concession British company and extracted this source for (40) years and then left in 1968 after leaving the island deformed by drilling.
\nThirdly, what are these islands?
\n1- Greater Tunb: It is an island belonging to the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates. It is currently located in the Iranian province of Hormozgan and is claimed by the United Arab Emirates. It covers about 91 km2 and has a population of 700. It lies at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz (Bab al-Salam) and is about 12 kilometers long and 7 kilometers wide. Greater Tunb has fresh water for drinking and agriculture, with palm trees and other fruit trees scattered across the island’s farms and home gardens. The Government of Ras Al Khaimah has provided residents with many service institutions, such as a primary school for boys and girls, a health clinic, and a police station. The inhabitants of Greater Tunb hail from the Arab tribes of Jarir and Tamim, who practice fishing and trade in Ras Al Khaimah and Dubai markets. Few are interested in agriculture and livestock care.
\n2- Smaller Tunb: known in some sources as the island of (Nabio), it occupies a site ten kilometers west of Greater Tunb. This island is triangular, about 1 kilometer long and 700 meters wide, and its land is rocky, with hills up to 116 meters high, which fishermen use when the winds and waves are high. Land and sea birds breed there and do not have fresh drinking water, so no humans live there, but it serves as a warehouse and storage for equipment and luggage.
\n3- Abu Musa Island: It is located 94 miles from the entrance to the Arabian Gulf, opposite the coast of the Emirate of Sharjah, about 60 kilometers from the city of Sharjah, while it is about 72 kilometers from the eastern coast of the Arabian Gulf. The island lies south of the Arabian Gulf, at its entrance in the Strait of Hormuz. The island is long and narrow, with an area of about 20 square kilometers. Its lands are a low plain with a mountain hill called by the inhabitants (Iron Mountain), with a height of 360 feet, and another mountain called by the people (Jabal Al-Daali), \u00ab any mountain of hedgehogs \u00bb and has some mineral formations such as granite and red iron oxide, which was exploited more than 57 years ago by the British Golden Valley Colors Company (MECOM). Abu Musa Island is inhabited by about one thousand and five hundred people, all of whom are Arabs who belong to the Arab tribes on the western coast of the Arabian Gulf, and they own many boats that they use for commercial transport and fishing. The island has government departments of the Emirate of Sharjah that provide services to the population, such as a school for boys and girls, a health care clinic, and a police station, in addition to other government services. (5)(6)(7)<\/strong><\/p>\n

References:-<\/strong>
\n1- Khalil Ibrahim Al-Jassmi – Master’s thesis – Middle East University – 25-6-2013 entitled (The foreign policy of the United Arab Emirates towards the three occupied Arab islands: the Greater Tunb, the Lesser Tunb, and Abu Musa) pp. 11-16 (a rich source of references)<\/strong>
\n-2 Khalid bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi – The Three Islands between Arab Sovereignty and the Iranian Occupation – 1st Edition in 1997 pp. 25-28<\/strong>
\n3- Mohamed Abdel Salam – Occupation: Political importance of the three UAE islands – Noor Library 2020 pp. 34-39<\/strong>
\n4- Previous source – Al-Qasimi – pp. 29-37<\/strong>
\n5- https:\/\/www.aljazeera.net\/…\/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B2%D8…<\/strong>
\n6- Arabic Wikipedia https:\/\/ar.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/<\/a>
\n7- Links on YouTube:
\n<\/strong>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=RoK2F_K8I-A<\/strong><\/a>
\n<\/strong>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=AuyyDIqe_o0<\/strong><\/a>
\n<\/strong>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Mfx5J_IFHpY<\/strong><\/a>
\n<\/strong>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=AziE8ImkXW8<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

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