Arab League holds emergency meeting to discuss Iran

This file photo shows a general view of the League of Arab States, in Cairo, Egypt.

CAIRO: Arab League foreign ministers held an emergency meeting in Cairo on Sunday to discuss ways to combat Iranian interference in the affairs of regional countries. The meeting was requested by Saudi Arabia, supported by the UAE, Bahrain and Kuwait, and will be attended by Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit.
The ministerial meeting will be preceded by a meeting of the Arab Ministerial Committee on Intervention in Arab Internal Affairs, which comprises Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE and Bahrain.
The Kingdom’s request follows the launch of an Iranian-supplied ballistic missile at Riyadh from Houthi militia-held territory in Yemen on Nov. 4, and an explosion and fire at a Bahraini oil pipeline last Friday, also blamed on Iran.
Recently, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has accused Iran of “direct military aggression” against the Kingdom by supplying the Houthis with ballistic missiles.
In a memo requesting the meeting, Saudi Arabia attacked the “sabotage” and “terrorism” of the pipeline fire, which temporarily halted oil supplies from its territory. The memo referred to the fire and the missile attack “in addition to the violations committed by Iran in the Arab region, which undermine security and peace, not only in the Arab region, but around the globe.”
Earlier, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir said that his country reserved the right to respond to Iran’s “hostile actions.”
Al-Jubeir also said on his Twitter account that Iranian interference in the region harms neighboring countries and international peace and security.
Iran manufactured the ballistic missile fired by Yemen’s Houthi militia toward the Saudi capital and remnants of it bore “Iranian markings,” the top US Air Force official in the Middle East said last Friday.
Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Khaled bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa also tweeted that Iran was the real danger to the region.
On Saturday, Al-Khalifa blamed Iran for the pipeline explosion.
“The attempt to blow up the Saudi-Bahraini pipeline is a dangerous escalation on Iran’s part that aims to terrorize citizens and to harm the world’s oil industry,” he said.