RIYADH: Gulf Arab states on Sunday called on the international community and UN Security Council to “make flagrant Iranian interference and provocations” in Gulf affairs cease after unrest in Bahrain.Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, after a meeting in the Saudi capital Riyadh, called in a statement for “necessary measures” against the Islamic republic to prevent it from sowing regional discord.The GCC called on “the international community and the Security Council to take the necessary measures to make flagrant Iranian interference and provocations aimed at sowing discord and destruction” among GCC states. It said the GCC — Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — “categorically rejects all foreign interference in its affairs… and invites the Iranian regime to stop its provocations”. The statement also slammed “aggression” against Saudi diplomats in Iran.
Earlier on Sunday, Riyadh threatened to recall its diplomats from Tehran unless they were better protected. “I hope we won’t be obliged to withdraw our diplomatic mission from Tehran if Iran fails to take the necessary measures to protect it,” Saudi Deputy Foreign Minister Prince Turki bin Mohammed said.Iranian students had demonstrated on Monday outside the Saudi embassy to condemn Riyadh’s military intervention in Bahrain, the IRNA news agency had reported. Iran’s Fars news agency had reported that “six to seven petrol bombs were hurled against the embassy” as students chanted slogans against Saudi and Bahrain governments.On Sunday, Prince Turki said: “Shias in the Gulf are our brothers and have national rights under the umbrella of their loyalty (to their countries) and not to the outside.” – Khaleejnews
