Tehran is using the small Persian Gulf island of Abu Musa to make a territorial stand and rally Iranians behind the government as it seeks to increase its regional power.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made a visit to the disputed island last month, the first by an Iranian president. Upping the ante, last Sunday a parliamentary delegation made a high-profile visit to the island to observe Iran’s National Day of the Persian Gulf. Legislators have also called for a Persian Gulf province to be created.
