Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi (C) greets Qatar's Ambassador to Jordan, Zayed bin Said Al-Khayareen during the official opening ceremony for the new headquarters of the Iranian embassy in Amman, yesterday.
DOHA: Mellowing down its tough stand on the three islands with which it has a serious dispute with the UAE, Iran said yesterday it is willing to talk to the Emirates on the issue.
Tehran has also made a startling claim that Bahrain has urged it to help end its stand-off with the opposition and bring the two sides (the government and the opposition) to the negotiating table.
But, according to the Iranian foreign minister, Bahrain wants his country to help it resolve issues with the opposition secretly—a proposal not acceptable to Tehran.
“We are not in favour of arriving in Manama on a secret mission to resolve the stand-off between the government and the opposition. We are willing to help but openly,” said Ali Akbar Salehi.
Salehi said that historically the three islands of Abu Musa, and the Greater and Smaller Tunb (that are under Iran’s occupation) belong to Iran.
“However, we are open to negotiations with the UAE,” Salehi said yesterday, addressing a joint press briefing with his Jordanian counterpart Nasser Jaudat during his official visit to Amman.
To recall, the stand of the GCC states on the islands is that they belong to the UAE and that Iran must abandon its claim and hand the islands back to the UAE, a fellow GCC member state.
The issue has also been raised at the Summit of the GCC leaders and the Arab League also backs the UAE on the issue.
“We are open to talks with the UAE,” Salehi reiterated. He also said Iran was willing to sit with the Bahraini government and the opposition in Manama, but not secretly.
“Bahrain’s foreign minister has urged that we come to his country for the secret rapprochement (between the government and opposition) secretly. This is not acceptable to us. We want to do that openly and in a transparent way,” Salehi said.
Iran, he added, had been making it repeatedly clear that it is not interfering in Bahrain’s internal affairs.
“We respect Bahrain’s sovereignty and its government,” the Iranian foreign minister said, dp.news,com reported yesterday.
The Jordanian foreign minister said that Iran can play a positive role in helping resolve the ongoing crisis in Syria and stop the bloodshed.
“We should all be part of the solution,” Jaudat said. He ruled out any possibility of a US military presence in his country.
About Syria, Salehi said they recognise peaceful opposition in Syria and not those that are armed and backed by Al Qaeda.
About the Iranian nuclear issue, the Jordanian foreign minister said his country favoured a peaceful solution to the imbroglio.
The Peninsula
