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Iran rejects renewed Arab accusation

Arab World Materials 5 May 2011 06:25 (UTC +04:00)
Iran has condemned the [Persian] Gulf Cooperation Council ([P]GCC) over what it calls "baseless accusations and hostility" on the part of the council's member states, Press TV reported.
Iran rejects renewed Arab accusation

Iran has condemned the [Persian] Gulf Cooperation Council ([P]GCC) over what it calls "baseless accusations and hostility" on the part of the council's member states, Press TV reported.

The so-called [P]GCC member states issued a statement at a ministerial meeting in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, accusing Iran of interference in Bahrain's internal affairs.

Iranian Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar said on Wednesday that some [P]GCC member states were resorting to "finger-pointing tactics" to justify their own military intervention in Bahrain.

"It would be apt for the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council's ministers...to seek to meet their own people's legitimate demands, which would bring lasting stability and security to the region," he told reporters.

Najjar described the anti-regime protests in Bahrain as "arising from people's civil rights" and condemned the Saudi-backed repression of peaceful demonstrators in the Persian Gulf state as against Islamic laws and international human rights regulations.

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast also dismissed the anti-Iran remarks by the Arab foreign ministers.

Mehmanparast regretted the heavy-handed handling of Bahraini people's legitimate demands of their civil rights.

"We expect the officials in the region to adopt far-sighted and wise policies instead of such provocative remarks which do nothing to help resolve the problems of the region," he urged.

Anti-government protesters have been holding peaceful demonstrations across Bahrain since mid-February, calling for an end to the rule of the Al Khalifa royal family.

In mid-March, Saudi Arabia led a military deployment by some [P]GCC members states to Bahrain upon a request from Manama to quell the popular uprisings in the island nation.

Scores of protesters, including children, have been killed while many others have gone missing. Government forces have also raided dozens of mosques, schools, sacred sites and even graves in persisting efforts to suppress any opposition.

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