evidence: In 1968, Great Britain announced that it would withdraw from the Gulf region in 1971. In 1971 the island of Abu Musa was divided between Iran and the emirate of Sharjah in a memorandum of understanding (MoU). The MoU provided for joint administration on the islands and a division of resources. On November 30, Iran sent military forces to Abu Musa in accordance with the MoU, however Iran also took control of the two nearby Tunb islands. Iran has occupied them ever since. [...] Iran's claims to possession and control of the islands goes back to centuries BC until the advent of British imperial rule. A further Iranian claim is based on the fact that a section of the Arab Qasimi tribe which ruled the Tunbs and Abu Musa between 1872 and 1887, became Persian subjects before their administration of the islands. Iran further held that the emirate of Sharjah, who administers the island Abu Musa, and the emirate sheik of Ras al Khaimah, who administers the Tunbs, could not legally occupy the islands, as Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah were not a state and therefore could not acquire territory under international law (in december 1971 the six emirates under which Sharjah declared their independence from Bitain and called themselves the United Arab Emirates, Ras al Khaimah joined the UAE in February 1972).