GCC to weigh diplomatic options against Iran

Ahmadinejad accused of needlessly provoking UAE on islands issue. Foreign ministers of the six GCC members are to hold a special meeting in Doha on Wednesday to discuss a series of diplomatic actions after Iran's president visited the UAE's occupied Abu Mousa island, sources told Gulf News yesterday. The meeting was decided by the GCC foreign ministers following the unnecessary provocations by Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a source familiar with preparation for the meeting said. "The UAE and its Gulf partners will consider a series of diplomatic options in view of the unnecessary Iranian provocation," the source said. During his visit on Wednesday, Ahmadinejad insisted historical documents proved "the Persian Gulf is Persian," Iran's official IRNA news agency said. He said the name "Persian Gulf" derived from the "culture, civilisation and the dominant opinion" of the area. Iran, then under the rule of the Shah, occupied the islands in 1971, as Britain granted independence to its Gulf protectorates and withdrew its forces. Foreign Minister Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, visited Tehran twice recently and voiced the UAE's keenness on more communication at the public and private levels. "Unfortunately, Tehran failed to abide by the agreement and the Iranian president made that provocative trip to Abu Mousa," the source said. League slams visit The UAE on Thursday recalled envoy Saif Mohammad Abid Al Za'abi "for consultations" a day after denouncing Ahmadinejad's trip as a "flagrant violation of UAE sovereignty over its territories." However, Iran called the visit a purely "domestic issue," media reported. The Arab League slammed the visit as an unjustifiable step that undermines and violates efforts to peacefully resolve the issue of Iran's occupation of the UAE's three islands. The Secretary-General Dr Nabeel Al Arabi emphasised the need to refrain from such moves which raise tension in the region and affect Arab-Iranian ties. From: Gulfnews