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UN: GCC members complain about Iran's interference in Gulf affairs

Global Arab Network - - Asif Khalifa

Saturday, 23 April 2011 02:07

UN GCC members complain about Iran's interference in Gulf affairs

Global Arab Network - The Ambassadors of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have complained in separate letters to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the President of the Security Council Nestor Osorio of Colombia about Iran's interference in their internal affairs.

GCC Chairman Ambassador Ahmed Al-Jarman of the United Arab Emirates sent both letters enclosing the statement issued by the GCC Council of Ministers following their 33rd extraordinary session in Ryadh, Saudi Arabia, last Sunday.

The letter was signed by the Ambassadors of all six GCC members - Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman.

The Ministers commended in that statement the "positive progress" achieved in the Kingdom of Bahrain since the Declaration of the State of National Safety and the "positive measures" taken in that context.

They also reiterated their "rejection" of the content of the letter the Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi addressed to Ban last Friday and in which he condemned the resort to violence against peaceful demonstrators in Bahrain and asked for the withdrawal of "foreign forces" from the Kingdom.

Salehi also urged the Security Council to compel the Bahraini authorities and "those of the intervening military forces" to refrain from violence against peaceful civilians and have the Bahraini Government treat all Bahrainis in a "fair way and with respect and to resolve problems in the country through political dialogue." The Ministers' statement found in the Iranian letter to Ban "threats that reflect the Iranian tendency to interfere in the internal affairs of the Member States of the GCC by continuously and repeatedly propagating lies and false allegations, thus generating unrest and destabilization in the region."

They urged the Security Council to "take the necessary measures to put an end to such flagrant interventions, provocations and threats emanating from Iran in its attempt to rekindle strife and sabotage within the GCC members." They "categorically reject(ed) any intervention in their internal affairs" and warned that they "shall not hesitate to adopt all necessary policies or take all necessary measures in response."

In the meantime, the draft press statement proposed by Germany earlier this week to have the Security Council express its concern at the political crisis in Yemen and call on the parties to exercise restraint and enter into a comprehensive dialogue to realize the legitimate aspirations of the Yemeni people is "dead" because of Russia's objection, diplomats said.

The Security Council would have also expressed in the draft press statement its "full support to the mediating role of the GCC" to find a peaceful outcome to the Yemeni crisis.

Nevertheless, that support, KUNA learned, was conveyed orally to GCC members by Germany and other Council members appreciative of the regional initiative. (KUNA)

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