“We have extremely good relations with Qatar, Kuwait and Oman. We hope to have the same type of relations with Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE,” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told reporters on the sidelines of the Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD), inaugurated in Qatar’s capital Doha earlier in the day.
The Iranian foreign minister expressed hope for the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries to “resolve their differences peacefully.”
“We were against pressure on Qatar. We still believe pressure on Qatar is against international law,” Zarif said.
Saudi Arabia broke off relations with Iran in 2016 after angry protesters torched the Saudi diplomatic mission in Iran over Riyad’s execution of a top Shiite cleric.
In 2017, the Arab kingdom, along with Bahrain, the UAE and Egypt, imposed a trade and travel boycott on Qatar, accusing Doha of posing a threat to Gulf and regional security through its support for terrorism, a charge Qatar has repeatedly denied.
The ACD is an inter-governmental organization created on June 18, 2002 to promote Asian cooperation at a continental level and to help integrate regional organizations.
