Saudi Arabia: Arab-Latin American Rapprochement Will Increase Iran’s Isolation

The Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir

The Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir stated yesterday that the “Riyadh Declaration” that will emerge from the Fourth Summit of Arab and South American Countries “will be historic and comprehensive, and will cover many positive matters in terms of attitudes”, thus denying the existence of any variation in the position of the states.

Al-Jubeir added on the sidelines of the meeting of the foreign ministers from Arab and South American countries in Riyadh yesterday, that the rapprochement of Arab countries with South American ones will increase Iran’s isolation in the world, indicating that Tehran has become “weak” and “does not have any friends and seeks to win friendship with any state”. He also stressed that the relations between the Arab and Latin American countries is “new and distinct” but pointed out that the volume of trade exchange is not as hoped and that there is a desire to increase it.

Meanwhile, the Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa spoke about the emergence of points of disagreement from the meetings of the ministerial council between the Arab states and the South American ones. He added that “although we did not move away from the language which appeared in the previous summit statement regarding the occupied UAE islands, there are reservations on the part of the South American countries. However, the Arab states maintain their position”.

Regarding Iran’s interference in Bahrain, Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa said that the GCC countries are not alone in experiencing Iranian interference and that there are many options for responding to these interferences but that the “main and successful option is joint, Arab action”.

The “Riyadh Declaration” which was submitted by the foreign ministers of the Arab and South American countries for approval to the summit called Iran to respond positively to the Emirati initiative in order to reach a peaceful solution to the issue of the three UAE islands: Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb and Abu Musa.