The spokesman for Iranian Foreign Ministry Bahram Ghasemi said on Saturday, a day after the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC) held its annual meeting in Saudi capital Riyadh, that the Kuwaiti emir's approach towards Iran has been largely benevolent in recent years, saying that if this approach is accepted and implemented by PGCC Secretariat General instead of issuing anti-Iran statements, less costs would be imposed on the nations of the region.
Ghasemi expressed his regret over the PGCC final statement, in which some baseless accusations were levelled against Iran again, saying that the Riyadh summit showed the continuation of unconstructive PGCC approach.
The PGCC can take a logical and an independent approach to resolve misunderstandings and internal and external disputes and avoid divisive policies, he stressed.
“The PGCC seems to be influenced by some of its members' wrong and destructive policies and behaviors as a cover for expressing positions that are in continuation of the past mistakes,” the spokesman added.
From the Islamic Republic of Iran, the positions expressed in the final statement of the Riyadh meeting does not necessarily reflect the position of all its members, and the failure of Saudi Arabia to achieve its goals at the meeting can be seen in the disagreements between the text of the statement and the practical approach of some of its members towards the Islamic Republic of Iran,” he underlined.
In apparent reference to Kuwait and Oman, Ghasemi went on to note that some PGCC members have always had a proper understanding of the policy of the neighborliness of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the realities of the region as well as of neighborliness requirements, and have always been pioneering in reducing misunderstandings.
With regard to the claims on the three Iranian islands of Abu Musa, Greater Tunb, and the Lesser Tunb, the spokesman said “repeating baseless claims on the Iranian islands will not change the historical and geographical realities of the region, and the three islands are an indispensable part of Iran's territories and will remain so.”
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