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MIDDLE EAST NEWSLINE
Wednesday, April 17, 2002

UAE STUDY POINTS TO IRAN AS GREATEST THREAT ABU DHABI Ñ Iran has been identified as the greatest strategic threat to the United Arab Emirates.

A study by the Abu Dhabi-based Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies and Research asserts that the UAE continues to view Iran as the leading threat in the Persian Gulf despite Teheran's charm campaign. Iran has tried to woo the UAE and other Gulf Cooperation Council countries with incentives of expanded trade as well as security and military cooperation.

The UAE has claimed three islands occupied by Iranian forces since 1971. The Iranian presence on the strategic islands of Abu Musa, Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb has hampered Teheran's efforts to improve relations with both Abu Dhabi as well as the rest of the GCC.

"Iran constitutes the greatest threat to the UAE because of its continuous occupation of the islands of Abu Musa, Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb since 1971," the study, authored by UAE strategist Abdul Khalek Abdullah, said. "Iran's intentions and expansionist ambitions and its desire to demonstrate itself as the biggest military and political power in the region are also a source of permanent concern to the UAE and a cause of fear for the other Gulf states."

Iran has launched a military modernization program that focuses on power projection in the Gulf. Teheran is negotiating with Russia for the purchase of such long-range systems as the S-300, the Su-27 fighter, which Gulf strategists assert can hamper military air traffic in the region.

The study acknowledged the growing trade between Iran and the UAE. The two countries are said to value economic and trade links as compatible and significant.

"The UAE and Iran have more to converge than to diverge," the study said. "Relations between them in various fields, especially in trade, are very cordial if not ideal."

Iran has offered to discuss its military presence on the three Gulf islands. But Teheran has ruled out any decision to withdraw or abandon sovereignty.

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