Saudi-Skewed Statement of Arab Summit Censured

EghtesadOnline: Iran’s Foreign Ministry censured a statement of an Arab Summit in Saudi Arabia for raising “baseless” allegations against Tehran, saying Saudis have misused their position as the host to mobilize Arab states against Iran.

News ID: ۷۴۷۴۶۸

01 June 2019

In a statement on Friday, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abbas Mousavi dismissed a communiqué that certain leaders of Arab and Persian Gulf countries issued at the meetings of the (Persian) Gulf Cooperation Council, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Arab League held simultaneously in the holy city of Mecca to level groundless allegations against the Islamic Republic, Tasnim News Agency reported.

He also deplored Saudi Arabia’s move to take advantage of the gathering to foment division among Muslim countries.

“Iran is confident that such statements do not reflect the real views of all OIC members,” Financial Tribune quoted the spokesman as saying.

“Saudi Arabia took political and instrumental advantage of the auspicious month of Ramadan and the holy city of Mecca to make accusations against the Islamic Iran through some participants in the conference.”

Mousavi also deplored Riyadh for adopting a wrong approach and creating division among Muslim and regional countries instead of using the OIC to support the rights of the Palestinian people amid growing US efforts to advance a so-called peace plan that is reportedly hugely biased in favor of the Israeli regime at the expense of Palestinians.

“We deem the Saudi efforts to mobilize the views of neighboring and Arab countries a continuation of the hopeless approach pursued by the US and the Zionist regime against the Islamic Republic of Iran,” he said.

Mousavi noted that the Zionist regime of Israel’s old objective is to make the Islamic and Arab countries neglect their main and common enemy and to pit them against each other.

In comments on Thursday, the head of Iran’s delegation at the OIC meeting dismissed the accusations made by Saudi foreign minister that Tehran was interfering in the internal affairs of others.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran rejects the [Saudi] allegations made at the summit, and hopes, as a founder of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, that the summit held in the holy month of Ramadan would strengthen unity of the Islamic Ummah and concentrate on the Islamic world’s overriding subject, namely the issue of Palestine,” Reza Najafi said.

In an address to a ministerial meeting on the sidelines of the 14th OIC meeting on Wednesday, Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Ibrahim Abdulaziz Al-Assaf had called on Islamic nations to reject Iran's alleged interference in the internal affairs of other countries.