2026-06-26T09:17:56+00:00
Shafaq News- Tehran
Iran’s Ministry
of Foreign Affairs considered the joint statement issued by US Secretary of
State and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) foreign ministers, “interventionist,
irresponsible, and provocative.”
The joint communique
in Manama called for Iran to address what “threats to regional security,” including
its ballistic missiles, drones, and support for regional proxy groups. It also stressed
that any future trade and investment with Tehran would remain conditional and
reversible, tied to Iran’s compliance with a recently signed memorandum of
understanding and the cessation of “destabilizing behavior.”
Read more: US, GCC back Baghdad’s bid to disarm armed factions
In a statement
on Friday, the ministry rejected “a repetition of a big lie fabricated by
Israel and the United States” regarding Iran’s peaceful nuclear program, urging
GCC member states to pursue cooperation with Tehran on establishing a
nuclear-weapon-free zone in West Asia ”rather than echoing Washington’s framing
of the program as a threat.”
Characterizing
US military presence in the region as “a burden on the peoples of the
region and a source of insecurity and division,” the statement argued that
American assurances of commitment to GCC security amount to propaganda.
Washington’s use of regional bases to conduct military aggression against Iran
between February 28 and April 8, 2026, demonstrated, in its view, that the
United States disregards the security of neighboring states.
On missiles and
drones, the ministry called it “irresponsible and fully condemnable”
to portray Iran’s defensive capabilities as threatening, particularly given a
US-driven arms race that has turned West Asia into “a massive weapons
depot.”
“The
Islamic Republic of Iran will not show any tolerance whatsoever in defending
its sovereignty and the capabilities related to it,” the statement read.
Countries in
the region whose territory was used during the recent war with the United
States and Israel, according to the statement, must reconsider their positions.
The ministry
rejected the joint statement’s characterization of Palestinian and Lebanese
resistance movements as Iranian proxies, stating that the only entity operating
by proxy in the region is Israel. Palestinian and Lebanese resistance against
occupation and what it termed apartheid constitutes, in the ministry’s
position, fully legitimate struggle under international law, with all states
obligated to support the right to self-determination.
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