The secretary general of the Gulf Cooperation Council on Monday delivered a protest note to Iran's ambassador to Saudi Arabia over an Iranian cleric's remarks on Bahrain, a GCC statement said. In a meeting held in Riyadh, Monday, Abdullatif Bin Rashid Al-Zayani, GCC Secretary General, gave Mohammed Rasuli, Iran's Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, a note of “official protest from the Gulf Cooperation Council, totally rejecting the provocative and false claims in the Friday sermon of... Ahmed Janati against the kingdom of Bahrain,” the statement said. The note also termed Janati's remarks “blatant and unacceptable interference” in Bahrain's internal affairs, and called on Iranian officials and the government to “stop issuing false and inflammatory statements” about Bahrain, saying this could harm “good, neighborly relations.” GCC countries stressed that Janati's statements go against the United Nations Charter, the principles of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and the norms of international relations. Ahmad Janati said during a Friday sermon on July 8 in Tehran that “the number of prisoners is increasing day by day. The academics and physicians are fired... what does Bahrain want?” “The reconciliation meeting is a misdirection ploy. These plans bear no fruit,” he said of a national dialogue in Bahrain. Manama, along with other Gulf states, has repeatedly accused Iran of interference in Bahrain's internal affairs in connection with political differences among various Bahraini groups.
