GCC-Iran crisis expected to top Riyadh advisory summit

Manama: The crisis in the relations between the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Iran is expected to top the talks of the GCC leaders when they meet in Riyadh on Tuesday.

The annual advisory summit of the six GCC countries has been regularly held in May in the Saudi capital, but usually has no specific agenda. However, the intensity of the tension between Tehran and the GCC will most likely assert itself as the lead priority in the consultations.

The GCC has been particularly vociferous in its condemnation of the “blatant Iranian interference in the domestic affairs” of its member states and had repeatedly urged Tehran to respect their neighbourly relations.

The alliance is expected to reiterate on Tuesday its call for non-interference in the GCC internal affairs and to warn that any threat to the security of any member state harms the security of all states and would be dealt with collectively.

Iran has openly supported demonstrations that broke out in Bahrain in mid-February and condemned publicly as well as in letters to international organisations the presence of units from the Peninsula Shield, the military arm of the GCC, in Bahrain.

Tehran has always had a war of words with Kuwait after a court ordered that two Iranian nationals be executed for their role in an espionage network working for Iran. Tehran denied it had a spying ring in Kuwait and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that there was nothing to spy on in Kuwait.

In announcing the holding of the 13th advisory summit last week, Abdul Lateef Al Zayani, the secretary-general of the GCC, said that reinforced cooperation and consultations between the leaders and indicated their keenness on reviewing the latest developments in the region as well as political, economic, security, military, social and cultural issues.

The summit is widely expected to approve the creation of a $20 billion fund to assist Oman and Bahrain with issues that include unemployment and housing shortages.

The GCC foreign ministers in March said that each country would receive $10 billion over the next decade.