Iran cites 19th-century British map in row over ownership of three strategic islands

Maps drawn up more than 130 years ago on the instruction of the Marquess of Salisbury, the then British foreign secretary, have been cited by Iran in its dispute with the Gulf states over the ownership of three strategic islands at the entrance to the critical strait of Hormuz waterway.

- Patrick Wintour

The dispute is threatening to damage Iran's current efforts to form closer relations with its Gulf partners, and has also turned into an additional roadblock to improving the country's relations with the European Union.

The issue is hugely sensitive inside Iran and became more urgent when the EU issued a joint statement at the end of its first summit with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) last month that included a denunciation of the Iranian "occupation of the islands", which it said breached the UN charter and violated the sovereignty of the United Arab Emirates.

Faced with the new EU support for the UAE position, Iranian diplomats are citing maps drawn up by the War Office in 1888 that show the islands were perceived by Britain as part of Iran while what is now the UAE was simply termed the Pirate Coast.

The 50-year-long ownership dispute concerns three thinly populated islands - Abu Musa, Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb - that sit at the entrance to the strait of Hormuz, the route for oil tankers leading from the Gulf to the Gulf of Oman.