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29 March 2024

GCC for joint stand against Iran

Published
By Staff
Gulf oil producers will take a common stand against Iran for its interference in their internal affairs but any measures would not affect the Iranian citizens living in the region, the UAE’s foreign minister was reported on Sunday as saying.
Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan denounced Iran’s intervention in the internal affairs of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) as “unacceptable” and warned that any hostile action by Tehran against a GCC member would trigger response by all members.
Quoted by the Kuwaiti Alqabas Arabic language newspaper, Abdullah said Iran’s behavior towards the GCC would only “complicate” their relations.
He said the GCC countries are surprised by Tehran’s attitude on the grounds they have always dealt cordially with Iran.
Alqabas said it asked Sheikh Abdullah about any possible GCC measure against Iran, including cutting Tehran’s diplomatic missions and reducing the number of its citizens working in the 30-year-old Gulf alliance.
“Any measure must be taken collectively and in a studied manner…it should take into consideration the security and stability of the GCC countries,” he said.
“As for the Iranian people, the GCC countries have not and will not hold people responsible for the actions of their governments…if there is a bad position taken by a certain country, it is not appropriate to blame its people….as for Iran, certainly there will be a clear and collective GCC stand against that country following the recent developments,” he added.
Sheikh Abdullah said the GCC states condemn Iran’s behavior and fully supports any measure taken by Kuwait to safeguard its security.
“I advise the Iranian brothers to read the charter of the GCC countries well before interfering in the affairs of any member…the GCC is a single and integrated entity and the security of its members is part and parcel of its overall security.”
Abdullah said the GCC governments and people would remain united in the face of any threats facing their security as they did during Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait. “I hope the people of our region will take the recent events in Bahrain an example…the message to our people was clear and showed how strong the GCC is…...the creation of a fund to support Bahrain and Oman is a good example of this strength,” he said.