Iran’s Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi has told neighboring countries against making hollow remarks regarding three Iranian islands in the Persian Gulf.

According to The Iran Project,Speaking to journalists on Thursday, Vahidi referred to recent statements made by some Russian and Arab officials regarding the Iranian Persian Gulf islands, underlining that such baseless and empty statements are made to disrupt the ties among countries of the region.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned the Russian charge d’affaires on December 23, in the absence of the country’s ambassador, and handed over a note of protest over the statement the 6th Arab-Russian Cooperation Forum issued in Morocco on the three Iranian islands of Bumusa, the Greater Tunb, and the Lesser Tunb.

That statement voiced support for peaceful solutions to resolve what the participants called a conflict between Iran and the UAE over the islands.

The three Persian Gulf islands have historically been a part of Iran, proof of which can be found and corroborated by an abundance of historical, legal, and geographical documents in Iran and worldwide. However, the UAE has repeatedly laid unfounded claim to the islands.