The situation in Iran and the islands postpone the GCC statement
Gulf-United Arab Emirates, Politics, 6/14/1999

Well-informed diplomatic sources in Riyadh said that the failure to reach an agreement between the foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council states in their 71st ministerial meeting in Riyadh on Saturday over the final statements is, in the first place, attributed to formulating the paragraph relating to Iran.

Statements that were released by earlier GCC ministerial councils have talked about Iran in two ways: The first speaks of Iran's occupation of the three UAE islands of Greater Tanb, Lesser Tanb and Abu Mousa and calling on Iran to halt imposing its de facto policy, changing the demographics of the islands or using them for military services, also calling for peaceful negotiations with Abu Dhabi or accepting submission of the case to the International Court of Justice. The other way the statements have spoken about relations with Tehran, warning against Iran's armament policy and welcoming the "moderate" policy led by Iranian President Muhammad Khatami, saying that maintaining closeness with Iran should be built on the ground of good neighborhood, mutual respect and non-intervention in internal affairs.

Well- informed sources told the London-based al-Hayat daily that the United Arab Emirates called for including a paragraph which says the "closeness of the GCC states with Iran weakens the UAE stand over the question of the three islands," but this request was met with reservations.

A GCC source who attended part of the deliberations told al-Hayat said that the final statement "was about to be released, but the deliberations continued until 11:30 p.m. on Saturday, and the GCC foreign ministers wanted to travel back to their capitals, and since they have not reached a final formula for the final statement, they agreed to postpone the discussions to a meeting to be set later."

Meantime, the Abu Dhabi daily al-Itihad criticized the meeting in its Sunday editorial for not releasing the final statement. The paper said the GCC has, this time, chosen to keep silent in maintaining solidarity "with us in our unwavering position to the occupation of our three islands."

Previous Stories:
  Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates exchange accusations   (6/12/1999)
  Oman voices full solidarity with UAE over the three islands   (6/10/1999)
  GCC chief mediates between UAE and Saudi Arabia   (6/8/1999)

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