evidence: Against the backdrop of the UAE beginning its cautious outreach to Iran in 2019 and then sending its ambassador back to Tehran a year ago, exacerbated tensions over these islands — Greater and Lesser Tunbs and Abu Musa — will likely complicate the Emirati-Iranian rapprochement and regional diplomacy. However, the parties appear disposed to prevent this tension from spiraling out of control. Both countries want to maintain stability in the Persian Gulf. [...] Officials in Tehran maintain that the islands belonged to successive Persian empires, while their Emirati counterparts claim that Arab traders ruled Greater and Lesser Tunbs and Abu Musa for centuries before the British arrived. The three islands themselves are barren. Greater and Lesser Tunbs are uninhabited, while Abu Musa is home to approximately 2,000 permanent civilian residents. [...] The islands are also strategically valuable to both sides due to their location near the Strait of Hormuz. Whichever country controls Greater and Lesser Tunbs and Abu Musa can dominate the sea lanes coming in and out of the Gulf via the Strait of Hormuz. During the Iran-Iraq War (1980-88), the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) used Abu Musa to mount attacks during the "Tanker War" (1984-88).