evidence: Examining the long-running territorial dispute between the UAE and Iran, a new book analyses its roots and suggests a way forward For over forty years, the dispute over the three islands of Abu Musa, Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb has been a sore in relations between the United Arab Emirates and Iran. Initially occupied by Iran in 1971 during the time of the Shah and the formation of the UAE, the islands are a useful study of a seemingly intractable territorial dispute between a small set of city states and a regional hegemon. For the UAE, careful management of the dispute is crucial to neither exasperate conditions and provoke Iran into a more forceful response, possibly targeted at the UAE mainland, nor to give Iran leave to argue that the UAE has dropped its ‘misunderstood’ claims to the islands. Long-term management rather than short- term resolution appears to be the best course of action.