Speaker's Advisor:

PGCC Losing Ground, Members Not Cooperating

Rasa - Advisor to the Iranian Parliament Speaker Hossein Amir Abdollahian underlined that the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC) has now lost its structure and organization as its member-states are unwilling to convene.

News ID: 442026

Date: 11 December 2018 - 10:43

RNA - "Neither council nor cooperation remains from the PGCC; Bahrain in legitimacy deficit, Saudis in Khashoggi scandal & Riyadh & Abu Dhabi in Yemen retreat," Amir Abdollahian wrote on his Twitter account.

The Iranian Speaker's Advisor reiterated that a new regional alliance is needed to be formed with the participation of Iran and Iraq.

Amir Abdollahian's remarks came after the 39th PGCC Summit was held in Riyadh on Saturday in the absence of Qatari Emir and Sultan of Oman.

Many analysts believe that the body is largely "symbolic" and doesn’t play a functional role in enhancing cooperation between member states.

The 39th PGCC summit was held in Saudi Arabia on Sunday as Riyadh and its allies faced contradictory views with a half of the block.

The gap in the PGCC was revealed after the crisis in Syria (March 2011) when Oman clearly adopted a different policy from the other five Arab states and the differences increased after relations between Saudi Arabia and Qatar darkened in June 2017.

The 2017–18 Qatar diplomatic crisis began in June 2017, when Saudi Arabia and its allies severed diplomatic relations with Qatar and banned Qatar airplanes and ships from entering their airspace and sea routes along with Saudi Arabia blocking the only land crossing.

The Saudi-led coalition cited Qatar's alleged support for terrorism as the main reason for their actions, insisting that Qatar has violated a 2014 agreement with the members of the PGCC. Saudi Arabia and other countries have also criticized al-Jazeera.

But Qatar could live through problems by reliance on imports from Turkey and Iran.

After the US several times called for ending the differences in the PGCC and the Saudis announced that they do not want relations with the Qataris, Riyadh sent an invitation letter to the Qatari emir to participate in the 39th PGCC meeting but Qatar sent Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sultan bin Saad Al Muraikhi to the meeting to send a clear message to Riyadh and its allies.

The summit once again displayed Saudi Arabia's paradoxical polies as the country has laid a tight siege on Qatar and cut off ties with Doha, but still invited the Qatari Emir to the PGCC summit. In Riyadh's view, Doha is accused of supporting the terrorist groups in the region but it still is in an urge to have the neighboring states at the joint meeting.

The Saudi and Bahraini foreign ministers had earlier said that they would not participate in a joint meeting with Qatar's representative but Doha was invited to the PGCC meeting.

According to Fars News Agency, Saudi Arabia has invited Qatar but the Saudi media are still attacking Qatar and describe it as supporter of terrorist groups.

Analysts believe that Riyadh's invitation to Qatar was a useless attempt to save the PGCC's face and prolong its life span because the Council has turned into a dead body given the absence of Omani Sultan Qaboos and its incapability to resolve the internal differences.

Jaber al-Harami, a Qatari political expert and journalist, described the PGCC summit as a protocol meeting, saying, "The PGCC will not come out of the ICU and such meetings are like useless painkillers."

"How can one speak of a (P)GCC's common project while three of its members have laid siege on another member as one of the three presides the (P)GCC meeting. These countries have even attempted to occupy Qatar militarily," he added.

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