Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Dr. Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayani has expressed surprise at the Iranian leadership’s statements regarding the Arab-Iranian relations.

Those statements do not help build cooperation relations based on the principles of good neighbourliness and non-interference in domestic affairs, and do not stem from the noble values embedded in the Islamic religion, he said.

Al-Zayani expressed astonishment at the obvious contradiction between the statements made by the Iranian President Hassan Rohani and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on their country’s desire to open up a new positive chapter of Iranian-Arab relations, on the one hand, and those voiced by the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei during the Eid al-Fitr sermon in which Iran’s interference in the internal affairs of some Arab countries, including Yemen and Bahrain, persisted.

Khamenei’s statements represent a rejected interference in Arab countries’ domestic affairs, and flout all international conventions, principles and norms requiring respect for other countries’ sovereignty, and commitment to the good neighbourliness principles, he added.

He stressed that GCC countries would continue protecting their interests, and maintaining their firm stances on the need to safeguard regional security and stability.