Coined as ‘the great green place’ by its five hundred inhabitants, Abu Musa is called ‘the land of Moses’ in the old Iranian maps. It is a twelve kilometer square island on the eastern portion of the Persian Gulf and is part of an archipelago composed of six islands near the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz. The island is claimed by the United Arab Emirates but is administered as part of Hormozgan, which is another Iranian Province.

Both Iran and the United Arab Emirates claim the island due to its valuable economic, environment and security advantages. The island is full of oil reserves which fuel both the economies of Iran and the UAE. The strategic location of the island makes it accessible to many shipping lanes and whoever controls the island can control the shipping lane. With a lot of marshland vegetation, the island is home to a large array of marine life such as turtles, reptiles and various schools of fish. This in turn attracts birds which feed on the fish such as seagulls.