On the Iran - UAE island crisis

Iran's foreign minister Kamal Kharazi has announced his country's readiness to receive members of the three member Arab Gulf committee concerned with finding a mechanism for direct negotiations between Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to settle the issue of the three islands, as far as the aim of this committee is to encourage direct dialogue.

In a statement to the Saudi daily Okaz issued on Sunday, the Iranian foreign minister said " we seek to have a direct dialogue with the UAE because we believe that settling the issue of the islands can be only made through direct dialogue with the UAE." He added that his country is expecting to have a visit from the UAE side in reply to the two visits he had earlier held to the UAE.

The Iranian minister also stressed his country's readiness to find out a solution to the question of al-Darra gas field situated between Iran and Kuwait, noting that that this can be made through sitting on the table of negotiations very soon and in a good spirit.

The Iranian minister also expressed his satisfaction over signing the border demarcation treaty between Yemen and Saudi Arabia. He described this treaty as representing a great historical achievement.

The Iranian foreign minister indicated the level of relations existing between his country and Saudi Arabia. He said " I completely believe that the future of Saudi- Iranian relations are bright because there is a sincere and real political will between the two leaderships in the two countries. He stressed that coordination between the two countries proceeds into the right path in the service of the interests of the two peoples.