Uae, Iran’s global officiant proceeded a charm offensive among the Gulf on Sunday to safeguard a nuclear trade identified by a few Arab tells us as denoting larger Iranian promote for equipped parties and states critical the handed down monarchies.
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“The timing of the announcement is an attempt to prevent any progress in cooperation between Iran and other Gulf states”, Zarif said.
“Iran stands behind the people in the region to fight against the threat of extremism, terrorism and sectarianism…”
Upon returning to Tehran next week, the Iranian foreign minister is scheduled to host talks with European Union foreign-policy chief Federica Mogherini before meeting with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius.
“Just as we defended Dahuk, Erbil and Suleimaniyah [in Iraqi Kurdistan], if any country in the whole region is a victim of aggression, the Iranian nation will defend the oppressed”, Rouhani added.
Zarif is also expected to visit the holy Shia town of Najaf in Iraq tomorrow before heading to Baghdad.
Iran agreed earlier this month to limits on its nuclear program in exchange for broad sanctions relief.
“Regional countries, particularly the neighbors, are always the Islamic Republic of Iran’s main priority in the expansion of relations and cooperation in all fields”, Zarif went on to say.
Growing discord with another Gulf Arab state, the island nation of Bahrain, threatens to overshadow Zarif’s outreach effort.
The interior ministry said the two suspects had acknolwedge receiving shipment of explosives, automatic weapons and ammunition from Iranian handlers outside Bahrain’s territorial waters. It named the two as Mahdi Subah Abdulmohsen Mohammed, 30, and Abas Abdulhussain Abdullah Mohammed, also 30.
Bahraini authorities have announced similar confiscations of contraband weapons and explosives in the past.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Marzieh Afkham, called this allegation “baseless and repetitive”, saying Bahrain is only trying to “create tension in the region”.
Sunni Muslim-ruled Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet, often accuses Iran, a Shi’ite Muslim theocracy, of seeking to subvert Bahrain.
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Echoing that message in a speech earlier today, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on a visit to Iran’s Kurdistan Province: “The Iranian nation supports all oppressed nations”. He said it was only for consultations and that there would be no cut in diplomatic ties, according to the official IRNA news agency.
