GCC chief bids to defuse Arab squabble over ties with
Iran
ABU DHABI, May 7 (AFP) - A senior Gulf official stepped in Monday to
defuse a rare public squabble between regional allies Saudi Arabia and
the United Arab Emirates (UAE) over improving relations with Iran.
In a display of pique over Riyadh's new friendship with Tehran despite
Iran's islands dispute with Abu Dhabi, the Emirati government-owned paper
Al-Ittihad ran a blank editorial under the headline "Gulf Cooperation
Council" (GCC).
The 18-year-old GCC groups the UAE and Saudi Arabia with the ruling
monarchies of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar.
GCC secretary general Jamil al-Hujailan, a Saudi national whose country
is the leading power in the six-nation organisation, flew in to the UAE
capital and held talks with the president, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahayan.
Their talks were to focus on "the impact of the rapprochement between
the GCC and Iran on the question of the islands," according to a diplomatic
source in the region.
Iran took control of Abu Mussa and the Lesser and Greater Tunbs, which
are strategically located at the entrance to the Gulf, after the end of
the British protectorate in 1971 and on the eve of UAE independence.
The UAE has called for the dispute over sovereignty to be settled by
the world court, a request ruled out by Iran which insists the islands
form part of its territory.
After the UAE foreign minister protested Saturday over the deepening
ties between Tehran and Riyadh, fearing the island case was being abandoned
by the GCC, Saudi Arabia hit back by accusing its neighbour of being "childish."
In unusually harsh terms, the kingdom's Defence Minister Prince Sultan
bin Abdel Aziz said "an ignorant person is simply an enemy to
himself," pointing a finger at Emirati Foreign Minister Rashid
Abdullah al-Nuaimi.
The foreign minister has even raised a question mark over the UAE's
future commitment to the GCC. "Why should we respect our commitments
within the framework of the GCC if the others are not doing so?" he
asked.
Nuaimi charged in a television interview that the organisation was violating
its own resolutions that made an improvement in ties with Iran conditional
on a solution to the islands dispute.
But Prince Sultan was unmoved. "We are not going to embark on childish
quarrels ... Saudi Arabia ... is far above these questions," he retorted.
"What is astonishing is that some people should believe that a
rapprochement between the kingdom and any other Islamic country occurs
at the expense of someone else, and that is simply not true," he said.
Prince Sultan said Saudi Arabia as a sovereign state had the right to
map out its own policies, at the same time as being firmly committed to
the GCC.
A Saudi diplomatic source in Riyadh explained that the kingdom was "astonished"
by Nuaimi's statement, especially as UAE officials had "encouraged
better ties with Iran under its moderate President Mohammad Khatami."
Tehran meanwhile said it remained determined to forge ahead with improved
ties with all the Gulf states despite the mounting row between Abu Dhabi
and Riyadh about the pace of the rapprochement
"We are prepared to expand our relations with all the Arab and
Islamic states, and the United Arab Emirates is no exception," Foreign
Minister Kamal Kharazi told the official news agency IRNA.
"Steps have been taken to this end and a positive climate has already
been created."
But Emirati newspapers kept up the criticism on Monday.
"The rapprochement of some GCC members with Iran is indeed harming
the UAE and could even damage GCC solidarity," said the Gulf News.
"Iran is using the thaw in relations to undermine the UAE's case over
the islands."
"The UAE feels bitter," explained Gulf Today, another daily.
"The UAE finds that its principled stand is being undermined by
the activities of other states with which it has the closest ties and it
has every right to caution them against such course of action."
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