Special to WorldTribune.com
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif went on a one-day, three-country Mideast tour on July 26 to defend a nuclear deal that many Arab countries are vehemently opposed to.
Zarif’s charm offensive in the Gulf included stops in Kuwait, Qatar and Iraq.
Teheran has insisted the nuclear deal will not change its regional policies. Many Sunni Muslim-ruled states accuse Shi’ite-dominated Iran of interfering in their affairs, including financial or military support for jihadist groups and political movements in countries including Bahrain, Yemen and Lebanon.
Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, accompanying Zarif, said the goal of the tour was “strengthening ties and developing cooperation in all the fields” with Iran’s neighbors.
“The fight against extremism and violence as well as strengthening regional ties are a fundamental necessity to achieve sustainable development and security in the region,” Amir-Abdollahian said.
Officials in Bahrain said on July 25 that an arms smuggling plot by two Bahrainis with ties to Iran had been foiled and announced the recall of the Bahraini ambassador to Iran for consultations after what they said were repeated hostile Iranian statements.
Iranian deputy foreign minister Hassan Ghashghavi said Bahrain’s government disagreed with Iran’s “support of oppressed people in their country.”
“However we will continue doing so and we insist that the oppressed people of Bahrain need attention,” Ghashghavi said.
Prior to his Gulf tour, Zarif said in a statement posted on his ministry’s website that Teheran would continue supporting its allies in Syria and Iraq in the fight against Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL).
Iranian President Hassan Rowhani said that “if it wasn’t for Iran, Erbil and Baghdad would have also fallen to the terrorists (of ISIL) … Just as we defended Dahuk, Erbil and Sulaymaniyah (in Iraqi Kurdistan), if any country in the whole region is a victim of aggression, the Iranian nation will defend the oppressed.”
Iran’s Zarif conducts 1-day whistle stop tour of rattled Gulf states added by World Tribune on
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