Bahrain attends Arab meeting on crisis with Iran

Cairo, Mar. 7 (BNA): The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, took part in the seventh meeting of the Arab Ministerial Quartet Committee to follow up the developments of the crisis with Iran and ways of addressing its interference in the internal affairs of Arab countries. The session was held today on the sidelines of the Arab League meeting at the ministerial level of its 149th ordinary meeting in Cairo, the Arab Republic of Egypt. The Ministerial Committee discussed the developments of the crisis with the Islamic Republic of Iran in the internal affairs of the Arab countries and reviewed in this regard the report prepared by the Secretariat as well as its monitoring of the most prominent negative statements by Iranian officials towards the Arab countries. The communiqué issued at the meeting condemned the Iranian interference as well as continued sabotage activities in the internal affairs of the Kingdom of Bahrain, praising Bahrain's efforts to combat terrorism. The committee commended the ability of security authorities in the Kingdom of Bahrain to thwart a number of terrorist acts and plots as well as arrest 116 terrorist elements belonging to a terrorist organization, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and its foreign forces, including the Asaib Ahl al-Haq and Hezbollah terrorist groups, which set up, financed trained its operatives to carry out a series of dangerous terrorist acts, to disrupt security and stability, and to target the national economy. The Committee also condemned Iran's continuing support for terrorist and subversive acts in Arab countries, including the continued firing of ballistic missiles from within Yemeni territory into Saudi Arabia. This constitutes a flagrant violation of Security Council resolution 2216 (2015), which states that the militias must not be armed. It reiterated its support for the measures taken by the Kingdom of Bahrain and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to combat these acts of aggression to protect their security and stability. The Ministerial Committee condemned the continuation of Iranian interference in the internal affairs of Arab countries, and at the same time denounced the provocative statements continued by Iranian officials against the Arab countries. It expressed its deep concern about Iran's inciting sectarianism in Arab countries, including its support and arming of terrorist militias in some Arab countries, and the ensuing chaos and instability in the region that threatens Arab national security. This hinders regional and international efforts to solve the issues and crises of the region by peaceful means and the committee demanded that such actions must stop. The Committee expressed its concern about the seriousness of Iran's commitment under the Joint Comprehensive Action Plan (JCPOA), and the ability of this agreement to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons in the future, especially in light of Iran's hostile policies in the region. The Committee also stressed the need to monitor the developments of this issue. The Committee condemned Iran's continued development of its ballistic missile program of an offensive nature, as well as the launching of Iranian-made rockets, through which the Houthi militia targeted cities and villages of Saudi Arabia, which poses a serious threat to security and stability in the region. It also stressed the need for Iran to comply with Security Council resolution 2231 (2015) regarding its missile program and the need to implement an effective mechanism to verify the implementation of the agreement, inspection, control and re-imposition of sanctions, quickly and effectively, if Iran violates its obligations under the agreement as well as the importance of Iran's accession to all nuclear safety charters and taking into consideration the environmental problems of the region. This is in addition to the provisions related to emphasizing on Iran's ban on ballistic testing and development of long-range missiles and missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.