Manama: Kuwait’s Deputy Foreign Minister Khalid Al Jarallah said that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s statement about his country’s readiness to start a dialogue with Saudi Arabia should be followed by action.
Rouhani on Saturday said “Tehran was not interested in maintaining tensions with Saudi Arabia” and that “if there is any problem between (the) two countries, it should be resolved through talks”.
The Iranian president was speaking at a news conference in Islamabad at the end of a two-day visit to Pakistan.
However, Al Jarallah said the overture should go beyond mere words.
“We hope that such statements are followed by deeds on the ground,” he said, quoted by Kuwaiti daily Al Nahar on Tuesday.
On Sunday evening, Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Adel Al Jubeir, commenting on Rouhani’s statement, said his country did not want tense relations with Iran, and was keen on normal ties. However, the Iranians needed to change their stances towards the region.
“If they want better relations with Saudi Arabia and other Islamic countries, they should change their behaviour and become a normal country and cease to be a revolutionary country seeking to export its revolution and its influence beyond its borders ... and then, the door will be open for them to have relations in the region,” Al Jubeir was quoted as saying during a joint press conference with South Africa’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Maite Nkoana Mashabane. “The way that we will judge Iran is by its actions and not by its words.”
In his statements to Al Nahar, Al Jarallah said Kuwait would host the Yemeni dialogue on April 18 under the auspices of the United Nations.
The Kuwaiti official confirmed that his country, one of the six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), would participate in the GCC-US ministerial meeting to be held in the Bahraini capital of Manama on April 8.
Al Jarallah said it was an important meeting that would precede the GCC-US summit scheduled for April 21 in the Saudi capital of Riyadh.
The strategic relations between the GCC and the US as well as issues of shared interest and the latest developments in the region will be on the agenda of the summit, he said.
The GCC comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
