Region | Iran

Arabs worry tensions will spill over to neighbours

Gulf and Arab officials express concerns about the violent developments in Iran.

  • By Duraid Al Baik, Associate Editor, and Habib Toumi, Bureau Chief
  • Published: 23:04 June 22, 2009
  • Gulf News

  • Image Credit: AP
  • In this photograph posted on the internet, a protester throws a projectile at riot police in Tehran on Saturday. Despite calls from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei to stop protests, reformists have taken to streets in large numbers.
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Dubai: Gulf Parliamentarians and officials in the Arab League on Monday expressed concerns about the violent developments in Iran and a possible spillover of tensions into Gulf states.

Al Dar, a Kuwaiti newsportal, on Sunday quoted senior Iranian sources, without naming them, as saying that the Iranians would take action against those who meddled in Iran's domestic affairs.

"The Iranian leadership is now focused on achieving stability in the country. However, after it finishes the legal and constitutional tackling of the internal movements, Iranian leaders will not remain silent towards those who interfered in Iran's domestic affairs by pouring in huge amounts of dollars or by expanding conflicts to undermine the system," the sources said.

Meanwhile, Bahrain's oldest newspaper in circulation, Akhbar Al Khaleej was briefly suspended yesterday. No reason or explanation was given by the official news agency for the suspension on Tuesday and for lifting it 12 hours later.

Sources told Gulf News that the suspension of the newspaper was related to the publication of an article in the opinion section on Sunday by Sameera Rajab, a regular columnist with the pan-Arabist newspaper, in which she attacked the Iranian regime and its supporters.

A source from the Arab League, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Gulf News that there is a great level of disagreement among member states about their assessment on violence in Tehran and other Iranian cities.

The upcoming ministerial meetings scheduled for this week might fail to agree on formulating a unified stand on the Iranian issue.

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The disagreement among Arabs about the Iranian issue has reached a stage that some Arab countries including Egypt has criticised Arab League Secretary General Amr Mousa, for sending a congratulatory cable to Ahmadinejad after the second announcement of the election.

Rashid Musabeh Al Kindi, Rapporteur of the Foreign Affairs Committee at the Federal National Council of UAE told Gulf News that the country is quite concerned about any event that shakes stability in Iran, because of its political and demographic weight.

Al Kindi said the tension in Iran would naturally lead to trouble throughout the region. "What Gulf nations want to see is a peaceful solution to stop the bloodshed," he said.

Dr Mohammad Al Naqabi, Head of the Negotiation Centre, Abu Dhabi, said that the GCC has always refrained from interfering in Iran's internal politics including the right of Iranian people to elect their president.

"However, the GCC prefers to see a president in Iran who is less hostile to the west and who has a clear vision about how to establish constructive relations with its neighbours in the GCC.

"If the current investigation was concluded with legitimising the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for his second term; then there would be no legitimacy for the protests of the opposition. Otherwise, Iranians leaders must look for a solution in their constitution for the political conflict," Al Naqabi said.

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