Iran:

Arab League ministerial statement ‘nonconstructive, invalid’

Iran has lambasted as counterproductive and divisive a recent statement by the Arab Quartet Committee, which accused the Islamic Republic of intervention in regional affairs.

News ID: 443822

Date: 09 March 2019 - 12:05

RNA - Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi said on Thursday that the statement only served to widen rifts in regional relations.

The statement does not reflect the standpoint maintained by all regional countries and only represents the “specific attitude of certain countries,” he added.

The statement had been issued a day earlier in Cairo at the end of a meeting of the committee comprising Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Bahrain. The committee was meeting on the sidelines of the 151st session of the Arab League Foreign Ministers.

It accused Iranian officials of making “provocative” statements against Arab countries and alleged that Tehran was interfering in Yemen, Saudi-owned Asharq al-Awsat newspaper reported.

“The committee’s worthless and unconstructive statements yield nothing, but further distrust and widening of rifts among regional countries,” Qassemi said.

The committee’s foursome members, he added, know well that the Islamic Republic would not be affected by such “hostile measures,” and would retain its independent policy of “opposing the invasion of Yemen, fighting terrorism, and [objecting to] presence of extra-regional forces in the Persian Gulf.”

According to Press TV, Saudi Arabia, and a number of its allies, including the three other members of the Arab committee, launched military aggression against Yemen in 2015 to restore the impoverished country’s former Riyadh-allied government. Tens of thousands have died and the invaded country been pushed close to the edge of outright famine since the war began.

The Iranian official advised regional countries to stop pursuing hostile policies, embargo, siege, military intervention, and efforts aimed at eliminating one country from regional equations.

Instead, the countries need to invest in trust-building efforts and comprehensive regional structures enabling multilateral cooperation, Qassemi concluded.

The quartet have also been exercising an embargo against fellow regional state Qatar, accusing it of support for “terrorism” and regional interference. Doha roundly rejects the claims.

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