GCC CALLS ON UN TO HALT IRAN'S ‘INTERFERENCE'RIYADH: Yemen's parliamentary opposition Sunday said it backed the Gulf Arab initiative that President Ali Abdullah Saleh must step down if the country's three-month-old crisis is to end, a statement said after Yemeni opposition leaders met with the foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in Riyadh. The GCC foreign ministers and the Yemeni opposition leaders met here Sunday night to discuss ways to resolve the crisis in Yemen. The five-member opposition Common Forum delegation was led by Mohammed Salem Bassandaoua, former foreign minister. Other Yemeni opposition leaders present in the talks included Yasin Saeed Noman, Secretary General of Socialist Party of Yemen; Abdelwahab Al-Anisi, Secretary General of Reform Party; Sultan Al-Atwani, Secretary General of Al-Nasiri party, and Hassan Zaid, chief of Al-Haq party. “The Yemeni opposition leaders agreed to continue future discussions of the details of the Gulf initiative and the Gulf Arab states will have another round of talks with the Yemeni government based on the principles of the initiative and the agreement with the opposition leaders,” Saudi Press Agency reported. Both Western and Arab allies have tried to broker a deal to end crisis over the transition of power from Saleh, who has led Yemen for 32 years and says he wants a handover, but only to “safe hands”. The Gulf Arab states also called on the international community and the UN Security Council to “make flagrant Iranian interference and provocations” in Gulf affairs cease after unrest in Bahrain. The GCC meeting rejected the contents of the letter from the Iranian minister of foreign affairs to the UN secretary general on the situation in Bahrain and the threats it contained reflecting Iran's continuous interference in the affairs of the GCC countries. “While realizing their responsibilities and roles in the region and their concern for the sovereignty, stability and security of their countries, they categorically reject any foreign interference in their internal affairs and they will not hesitate to take any policies or measures in this connection,” said a statement. “At a time when the GCC countries are concerned to maintain good relations with all countries including the Islamic Republic of Iran, they call upon the Iranian regime to desist from provocation and arousing disturbances and fabrications, and recruiting agents and sleeper cells against the GCC countries, by which it aims to divert attention from its internal problems and situation.” The GCC also lauded the “positive development in the Kingdom of Bahrain since the declaration of the state of national safety and the positive measures taken within this sphere leading to restoring security, stability and peace of mind”. The GCC ministerial council also expressed its dismay over the repeated attacks on the headquarters of the diplomatic mission of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in Iran in a flagrant violation of international law and diplomatic norms. The council demanded of the Iranian government to provide the diplomatic missions with full security and to take action against the attackers.
