Manama: A Bahraini lawmaker has called for a Gulf boycott of Iranian goods in reaction to the "provocative" visit by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the disputed island of Abu Mousa.
"All segments of the civil societies in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) should be involved in the campaign to boycott Iranian products," Salman Al Shaikh said.
"The initiative should a prompt response to the escalation by Iran and the threat to international peace."
The lawmaker said that the Iran economy depended on the GCC countries to export its products, taking advantage of their close geographical location and their openness.
"We should also end our agreements for Iranian consultancy and expertise and we should not renew the contracts of Iranian players playing with GCC clubs," he said in remarks published on Thursday.
Another lawmaker, Abdullah Bin Huwail, said that the GCC countries should move beyond verbal condemnation to ensure a global mobilization and taking the issue to the United Nations.
"Attempts to open up dialogue with Iran are futile and useless and Tehran will always see them as a sign of weakness and surrender," he said. "The lack of serious positions and of real action by the GCC has encouraged the Iranians to stretch their actions. The boycott of Iran should have started in the GCC and then extended to the rest of the world. What we are witnessing now is non-sense," he said.
Bahrain has felt very strongly about Ahmadinejad's visit and Shaikh Khalid Bin Ahmad Al Khalifa wrote "We are all Emiratis now" on his Twitter account.
Tehran maintains that the islands of Abu Mousa, the Lesser Tunb and the Greater Tunb are part of its territory and has refused to take the issue to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague.
The ICJ can take up a dispute only if nation-states are parties to it and that they accept its jurisdiction.
