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Khamenei Orders Settlement Project in Occupied Emirati Islands

Aircraft carrier USS Eisenhower during training at a site in the Gulf last Sunday. US Navy handout
Aircraft carrier USS Eisenhower during training at a site in the Gulf last Sunday. US Navy handout
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Khamenei Orders Settlement Project in Occupied Emirati Islands

Aircraft carrier USS Eisenhower during training at a site in the Gulf last Sunday. US Navy handout
Aircraft carrier USS Eisenhower during training at a site in the Gulf last Sunday. US Navy handout

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Naval Force Commander Alireza Tangsiri revealed that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has tasked the IRGC with making Arab Gulf islands "habitable."

This includes the occupied Emirati islands. Meanwhile, the IRGC is trying to justify its retaliation against US forces in the Arab Gulf amid a raging war of words between Washington and Tehran. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani had accused the US of conspiring daily against Iran.

Tangsiri warned that the IRGC would not allow "the presence of foreign warships in this region."

Revealing Khamenei's plans to develop the islands in a radio interview, Tangsiri did not elaborate on why and when he issued the order.
Tangsiri, however, revealed that settlements were a part of the plan.

Tangsiri called the US military presence in the region illegitimate, mindless of the fact that it was Iran's aggressive moves including attacks on civilian navigation in international waters in 2019 that prompted US allies in the region to call for the presence of European and US fleets.

He said when Khamenei wants to make the islands habitable, "this means that we want to make the region secure."

Tangsiri added that the IRGC has built international airports in Abu Musa and the Greater Tunb Islands and another island has been constructed in the Lesser Tunb.

"They must understand the situation by that name and by the coastal nation that has protected this waterway for thousands of years," AFP quoted Rouhani as saying in a televised address during a cabinet meeting.

"They should not plot against the Iranian nation every day,” he added.

“The soldiers of our armed forces in the guardians of the Revolution, the army, Basij (paramilitary organization) and the police have always been and will be the guardians of the Gulf,” Rouhani said.

Tehran and Washington have traded barbs over a spate of incidents in the past year involving their forces in the sensitive waters of the Gulf.

Their latest high-seas confrontation came on April 15, when the United States said 11 Iranian boats harassed its navy ships in what it described as the international waters of the Arabian Gulf.

President Donald Trump then tweeted that he had ordered the US Navy to "shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea".

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Peace Inches Forward in Türkiye as Parliament Eyes Cautious PKK Integration

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (Turkish Presidency)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (Turkish Presidency)
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Peace Inches Forward in Türkiye as Parliament Eyes Cautious PKK Integration

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (Turkish Presidency)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (Turkish Presidency)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday hailed a symbolic disarmament move by Kurdish militants as the beginning of a new chapter in the country’s decades-long fight against terrorism, but warned the process would not involve political bargaining.

Speaking at a ruling AK Party consultative meeting in Kızılcahamam, near Ankara, Erdogan said the gesture by a faction of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) to lay down and burn its weapons marked “the dawn of a strong and great Türkiye.”

“With the end of a 47-year-old plague of terrorism now in sight, we are opening the doors to a new era,” Erdogan said. “The process ahead will uphold Türkiye’s dignity and respect the sensitivities of its people. No one will be allowed to compromise the honor of this nation.”

The symbolic surrender ceremony took place Friday near Sulaymaniyah in northern Iraq, a region long known to harbor PKK fighters.

While Erdogan stopped short of detailing next steps, Turkish sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that gradual legislative moves are expected in parliament starting this week. These may include reduced sentences or pardons for PKK members as part of the wider reconciliation effort.

The PKK, designated a terrorist group by Türkiye, the United States and the European Union, has waged an insurgency since 1984 that has killed tens of thousands. Previous attempts at peace talks collapsed in 2015, triggering years of renewed violence.

Erdogan, who has increasingly adopted nationalist rhetoric, stressed that any future measures would be carefully calibrated. “This is not an open-ended negotiation. It is a national process conducted with resolve and clarity,” he said.

Erdogan on Saturday ruled out any political negotiations behind a symbolic disarmament move by Kurdish militants, insisting Türkiye’s ongoing campaign to eliminate terrorism is not the result of concessions or backroom deals.

“I want to make it absolutely clear that the ‘Terror-Free Türkiye initiative we are pursuing is not born of negotiations, bartering, or give-and-take,” Erdogan said in his speech to the ruling AK Party’s consultative gathering in Kızılcahamam.

“Let everyone rest assured: we will never allow the honor of the Republic of Türkiye to be violated. Türkiye will not bow down — and we will move forward with this understanding.”

His remarks came a day after a faction of the PKK held a public ceremony near Sulaymaniyah in northern Iraq, where fighters laid down and burned their weapons in what supporters described as a symbolic gesture rather than full surrender.

Pro-PKK figures said the act was meant to preserve the “dignity of the armed struggle,” and called on Turkish authorities to permit Kurdish political participation and release jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, who has been imprisoned since 1999.

Erdogan on Saturday also outlined the next phase in the country’s push to end nearly five decades of Kurdish militancy, saying a parliamentary committee would be formed to examine the legal framework for disarming the PKK.

“We hope the Turkish parliament will support the process with a constructive and facilitative approach,” Erdogan said during a speech to members of his ruling AK Party in Kızılcahamam.

“With the end of terrorism, the Republic of Türkiye will emerge stronger and more self-confident than ever before,” Erdogan said. “We will redirect our energy toward development and prosperity, rather than the fight against terrorism.”

The president vowed to expedite the process while honoring national sensitivities. “We will closely monitor the disarmament step by step. As the terrorist group lays down its arms, Türkiye will grow in fraternity, deepen its democracy, and move into the future with greater stability and security,” he said.