By David Gold
April 14 – The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has cancelled a friendly match, scheduled originally for Tuesday (April 17), with Iran after the Islamic Republic’s hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited an island which both countries believe they own.
The decision was made by the UAE’s Football Association Interim Committee chairman Yousuf Yaqoub Al Serkal after Ahmadinejad visited Abu Mosa (pictured below), a tiny island off the Gulf country’s coast.
“The decision comes in line with the official stand of the UAE and the condemnation of the visit by the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad to Abu Mosa Island which is occupied by Iran since 1971,” said an announcement on the UAE Football Association’s website.
The visit to the island was described as “a flagrant violation of the United Arab Emirates’ sovereignty over its territory and a transgression of efforts to find a peaceful settlement to end Iranian occupation of the three UAE islands [of which Abu Mosa is one],” by UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan on the WAM news outlet.
A former British colonial possession, Abu Musa was claimed by Iran after Britain relinquished control of the island in the late 1960s.
The tiny emirate is also believed to have rich natural oil resources, which have become a focal point of the dispute between the UAE and Iran.
The UAE, a key American ally in the Middle East, are also deeply suspicious about the Iranian nuclear programme and the country’s attempts to create a nuclear weapon.
Yousef Al-Otaiba, the UAE’s ambassador to the United States, recently advocated bombing Iran’s nuclear facilities, something Israel is expected to do in the coming months.
It is not the first time that political disputes have caused problems on the pitch for Iran’s football team.
In 2010, Nigeria cancelled a friendly match with the Iranians, reportedly over a weapons cache delivered to criminals in the African country.
Iran subsequently appealed to FIFA, who supported their case and as a result they were awarded compensation.
Last year Iran’s women (pictured above) forfeited an Olympic qualifier against Jordan because they refused to remove the Islamic headscarves they were wearing, in contravention to FIFA rules – though the governing body has since moved to make the garment legal.
In 2006, Iran was also banned from international football by FIFA for Government interference in football matters.
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