NEW YORK (Dispatches) -- The Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the UN has dismissed the United Arab Emirates’ “baseless” claims over three Persian Gulf islands, stressing that they are an “inseparable” part of the Iranian territory.
Addressing the general debate of the 76th Session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) on Monday, the mission responded to UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Khalifa Shaheen al-Marar, who had spoken against Iran’s territorial integrity.
“I would like to respond to the UAE representative’s baseless

members, injuring many and killing some people.”
Musa stressed that the IMN has been leading the Arba’een procession since six years ago when the Nigerian military demolished the movement’s center in the town of Zaria in Kaduna state and detained Shiekh Zakzaky.
In December 2015, Nigeria’s military launched a crackdown on the movement, which Abuja has branded as illegal. The campaign saw troops attacking Zakzaky’s residence in Zaria, afflicting him and his wife with serious injuries that reportedly caused the cleric to lose his left eye.
During the crackdown, the military also attacked the movement’s members as they were holding religious processions, with the government alleging that the Muslims had blocked a convoy of the country’s defense minister. The movement has categorically rejected the allegation, and said the convoy had intentionally crossed paths with the IMN’s members to whip up an excuse to attack them.
The 2015 violence led to the death of three of Zakzaky’s sons and more than 300 of his followers.
The couple was kept in custody despite a 2016 ruling by Nigeria’s federal high court that ordered their release from prison. Zakzaky was finally released from detention after being acquitted in July 2021 of eight criminal charges, including aiding and abetting homicide, unlawful assembly and disruption of public peace.