Ahmadinejad: Arrogant Powers Looking for Conflict among Persian Gulf States

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad lashed out at the arrogant powers for their bullying policies, and warned that these powers are seeking to stir strife and conflict among the Persian Gulf littoral states.

“Division among Persian Gulf littoral states is in the interest of enemies of the regional countries and paves the path for them to enter the region,” President Ahmadinejad said, addressing a High Persian Gulf Council meeting in Tehran on Sunday.

He pointed to the Persian Gulf’s determining role in the regional and international equations, and said, “Iran deems Persian Gulf’s security as very important …”

Iranian ambassadors to the Persian Gulf states, governors general of Persian Gulf neighboring provinces as well as members of related committees attended the meeting.

In similar remarks earlier, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad underlined his country’s friendly and brotherly ties with regional nations.

Establishing friendly relations with all nations across the world are of utmost importance to Iran, he said in a meeting with Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Khaled bin Ahmed al-Khalifa in 2008.

Ahmadinejad said the bullying powers have admitted that they have no choice but to have interaction with Iran.

“Those who seek to dominate our region and go on with their looting do not want brotherly and friendly relations between regional countries to stay,” Ahmadinejad added.

Bin Ahmed al-Khalifa, for his part, said that “Bahrain will always and everywhere support the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

On December 3, 2007, President Ahmadinejad attended the 28th PGCC summit in Doha of Qatar in which he submitted 12 proposals meant to “reinforce brotherly ties” and “promote cooperation” among Persian Gulf littoral states and Iran.

Established in 1981, the PGCC was originally conceived as a way for conservative Arab Persian Gulf states to avoid involvement in the Iran-Iraq War, which had begun the previous year and went on until 1988.