Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh
Iran says the members of the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are in no position to comment about Iran’s military policies, particularly its missile program.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh on Thursday rejected remarks in a statement issued at the end of the 152nd session of GCC's Ministerial Council in Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh on Wednesday.
In their statement, the GCC described Iran’s nuclear and missile programs and regional strategies as the main “challenge” facing the member states, criticizing the Islamic Republic’s support for “terrorism” as well as its “destabilizing behavior” across the region.
Khatibzadeh said such a "threadbare and destructive” statement indicates a “completely wrong approach” adopted by some member states and their “strategic confusion” vis-à-vis the Islamic Republic.
Iran and Saudi Arabia have held several rounds of talks since 2021 to improve their ties, severed since 2016, with no major results so far.
Commenting on the request by some GCC member states to be part of the Vienna talks to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, JCPOA, Khatibzadeh said raising such issues demonstrates the depth of the council’s failure to see the realities as the JCPOA and the UN Resolution 2231 have made it clear which countries are the signatories to the international treaty and can take part in the negotiations.