Kuwait, Riyadh to UN on Iran maritime ‘assaults’
NEW YORK, July 27, (KUNA): The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait late on Tuesday presented a complaint to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon regarding repeated transgressions and assaults committed by Iranian military boats over the waters of the submerged area adjacent to the split area divided between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait The Permanent Missions of Saudi Arabia and the State of Kuwait to the UN, in the complaint, informed Ban of the Iranian assaults over the waters of the Divided Submerged Area, upon which the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the State of Kuwait solely have exclusive sovereign rights to explore and benefit from its natural wealth.
According to the document, the last incident of these infringements was committed by one vessel and two armed speedboats displaying the Iranian flag. Each boat had three armed individuals onboard, as this
infringement took place at 13:35 on Wednesday, 20 April 2016, while another infringement of an Iranian Hendijan 1401 vessel took place at 07:32 on Thursday, 21 April 2016.
These two vessels and two boats approached the Al-Dorra well No. 3 (D3) in the Al-Dorra field (coordinations 63 58 28 North 16 06 49 East) existing inside the Saudi-Kuwaiti submerged divided zone, which may lead to confrontations that threaten peace and security in this region, noted the joint document.
It is known that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the State of Kuwait solely have exclusive rights to explore and benefit from the hydrocarbon wealth in the Al-Dorra field and the divided submerged area.
The Governments of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the State of Kuwait express “their deep demurral and dissatisfaction about these repeated assaults and transgressions; and demand from the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to stop these transgressions and assaults in order to preserve their interests,” it stressed.
It also asked for negotiations to begin with Saudi Arabia and Kuwait as one party, and Iran as the other party to determine maritime delimitation separating between the waters of the divided submerged area and the waters of the Iran in accordance with the provisions of international law.
Nevertheless, both Governments of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait did not receive any response from the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran despite their repeated call for negotiations to determine these borders, it noted.