Iran warns against GCC union plan

TEHERAN - Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast warned that Saudi Arabia's plan to form a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) union leads to further crisis in Bahrain, the semi-official ISNA news agency reported on Wednesday.

Bahraini king's media advisor Nabeel Al Hamer said Tuesday that four of the oil-rich Gulf states agreed to form the GCC union.

Bahrain News Agency quoted Al Hamer's tweets as suggesting that the unification process is expected to be completed in the coming months.

"Any kind of foreign intervention or non-normative plans without respecting (Bahraini) people's vote will only deepen the already existing crisis," Mehmanparast was quoted as saying.

"The solution to the crisis in Bahrain is a response to the legitimate demands of the people," he added.

During the 14th GCC Summit that concluded in the Saudi capital of Riyadh on Monday, leaders of GCC members, including Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates ( UAE), discussed whether to establish a closer union for the six states.

Bahrain's parliament affirmed that joining the GCC union is a right step that will achieve security, stability and economic prosperity for its citizens and protect the region against " hostile" states such as Iran.

The Iranian spokesman also responded to remarks by Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal at the GCC meeting that upheld the UAE in a dispute with Iran over three islands in the Gulf.

The UAE claims that "Iran has occupied the three disputed Persian Gulf islands of Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb, and Abu Musa," while Iran insists that historical documents have proven that the islands belong to Iran.

Mehmanparast said Tuesday that the recent remarks made by some Arab officials on the three islands are interference in the Islamic republic's internal affairs.

"Raising or repeating any claim about the three Iranian islands is considered by Iran as an uncalculated remark which... lacks political and legal authenticity since it is incompatible with the principle of noninterference in other countries' internal affairs, " Mehmanparast was quoted as saying by the local satellite Press TV.

The UAE recalled its ambassador from Iran on April 12 after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad paid a controversial visit to the island of Abu Musa. The UAE slammed Ahmadinejad's trip to Abu Musa as a "risk for international peace and security."