The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) called on the United Nations and the international community to halt “flagrant Iranian interference” in Gulf affairs, Al-Arabiya TV reported on April 18.
After a meeting in the Saudi capital Riyadh, the six-nation GCC urged the UN Security Council in a statement to take “necessary measures” against the Islamic republic to prevent it from sowing regional discord.
The statement said the GCC “categorically rejects all foreign interference in its affairs,” and slammed “aggression against Saudi diplomats” in Iran. The GCC is a union that includes Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and Kuwait. Earlier on April 17, Riyadh threatened to recall its diplomats from Tehran in case the Islamic republic does not take the necessary measures to ensure their safety. Iranian students demonstrated outside the Saudi embassy in Tehran to condemn Riyadh's military intervention in Bahrain.
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Iran, predominantly a Shiite Muslim country, has repeatedly condemned the dispatch of Saudi troops to Bahrain to support the Bahraini forces' crackdown on demonstrators, who were mostly Shiites protesting against the Sunni rule in the tiny Gulf nation. Iran's Fars news agency, which is close to conservatives who dominate Iran's politics, reported that “six to seven petrol bombs were hurled against the embassy” as students chanted anti-Saudi slogans.
Tehran has repeatedly condemned the dispatch of GCC troops to Bahrain. However, on April 18, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused the U.S. of wanting to create tension between Iran and Arabs.