evidence: Abu Musa has a population of around 600 people, and is situated at the mouth of the narrows of the Strait of Hormuz. The other islands are closer to the Persian Gulfs sea lane, but only one of these, the Greater Tunbs, is inhabited, with about 350 people. There are few significant resources on the islands apart from red oxide (coloring pigment)and oil, and only Abu Musa can accommodate large ships. Tehran claims that Britain took the islands from Iran and gave them to the Arabs in the nineteenth century. The UAE counters that Arabs from the eastern Gulf littoral have always controlled the islands, and that Iran has no claim to either Abu Musa or the Tunbs. 22 [...] The UAE president has reconciled these opposing interests by using his personal authority to forge a consensus in support of a policy that uses peaceful means to pressure Iran to relinquish control of the islands. He has also exploited his reputation for piety and rectitude to heighten the moral urgency of the UAEs claim to the islands an urgency impossible for the regions governments, including Irans ally Syria, to ignore. Every Arab state is on record as supporting the immediate restoration of the UAEs sovereignty over Abu Musa and the Tunbs. Other countries, such as the United States, have signed similar documents as well. [...] Note 26: Abu Musa: Island Dispute Between the Iran and the UAE, http://WWW.Columbia.univeristylibrary/Mideast/UAE.edu, February 20, 1998. (Hereafter cited as Islands Dispute.) Shaykh Muhammad reportedly made this statement at Ohio State University in 1995. Back.