AFP, Riyadh, 20 Dec 2011 –  The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council called on arch rival Iran on Tuesday to stop meddling in the internal affairs of the group’s members.
‘Stop these policies and practises … and stop interfering in the internal affairs’ of the Gulf nations, said a statement released at the end of the GCC annual summit in the Saudi capital Riyadh.
The Sunni-led GCC also expressed concern over attempts by Shiite Iran to ‘instigate sectarian strife.’
The GCC also called on Iran to ‘fully cooperate’ with the International Atomic Energy Agency and work to resolve regional conflicts ‘peacefully,’ adding that the GCC nations were still committed to a Middle East ‘free of weapons of mass destruction.’
The West fears Iran’s nuclear programme masks a push to develop an atomic weapons capability, a charge Tehran denies.
Saudi-Iranian relations have deteriorated since 1,000 Gulf troops entered the tiny kingdom of Bahrain to help the Sunni monarchy there crush a Shiite-led uprising in February and March.
For years, the majority Shiite population has complained of economic and political inequality.
In February, inspired by the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt that tossed out long-time dictators there, thousands of Bahrainis took to the streets demanding democratic reforms.
Government security forces, boosted by the Saudi-led Gulf troops, brutally quashed the Shiite-led protests, infuriating Iran.
The already tense Saudi-Iranian relations took a turn for the worse when US justice officials announced in October that they had foiled an Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to Washington.
Though the Iranian intelligence chief was in Riyadh last week to clear up ‘misunderstandings’ regarding the alleged assassination plot, tensions between the two nations remain high.
On Monday, the last of American troops withdrew from Shiite-dominated Iraq, further heightening Gulf concerns over growing Iranian and Shiite influence in the region.
The Gulf Arab nations, with the exception of Bahrain, for the most part evaded the uprisings of the Arab Spring.
In Saudi Arabia, however, Sunni-Shiite tensions have risen in recent weeks as several Shiite demonstrators from the kingdom’s Eastern province were killed in anti-government protests.
Saudi Arabia, like Bahrain, accuses Iran of instigating the unrest among the Shiites in their country