Mecca summit should address both Syria and Bahrain: Iranian deputy FM

TEHRAN,Aug.14(MNA) – On Monday, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian called on Muslim leaders to address the Syrian and Bahraini crises simultaneously in their gathering in Mecca. Amir-Abdollahian said Iran has proposed that the Palestinian issue and solidarity in the Muslim world should be discussed at the meeting and that divisive issues would not be raised. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad left Tehran on Monday to attend the emergency Islamic summit in Mecca, which takes place on Tuesday and Wednesday. Speaking to reporters before his departure for Mecca, Ahmadinejad said that the meeting will be a chance to express the views of the Iranian nation on the issues facing the Muslim world. “This meeting is an opportunity for our nation’s standpoint to be explained clearly and for efforts to be made toward the convergence and protection of the interests and integrity of Muslim nations,” he said. Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said on July 22 that King Abdullah had called for the emergency meeting to address risks of “sedition” threatening Muslim countries. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said on July 24 that the crisis in Bahrain should top the agenda of the Islamic summit. “We will welcome any meeting that brings together Muslim countries and will actively participate in it. But the crises are obvious, and it is also clear which countries are taking interventionist measures. If such a meeting is supposed to be held, resolving the issue of Bahrain” should be top of the agenda,” Mehmanparast said at the time.