UAE chairs Arab Quartet discussing ways to counter Iran's interference in Arab states' internal affairs

 H.E. Dr. Anwar Mohammed Gargash, UAE's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, chaired the third meeting of the Arab Ministerial Quartet, held on the fringe of preparatory ministerial meetings ahead of the 27th Arab Summit.

Made up of the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, as well as the Secretary-General of the Arab League, the quartet was established by virtue of the Arab League's resolution No. 8879 in January 2016.

The quartet discussed the developments in the ongoing crisis with Iran and ways of countering its interference in the internal affairs of Arab states, a statement issued by the committee following the meeting said.

The members of the committee examined a report prepared by the Arab League which included steps taken to execute the relevant ministerial decisions and the pan-Arab organisation's monitoring of the negative statements made by Iranian officials against Arab States, the statement said.

The committee submitted its observations to the Council of the Arab League.

The statement said the committee noticed Iran's recent massive and serious escalation of the scope and level of its interference in the internal affairs of Arab states, including heightened provocative statements made by Iranian officials against Arab states.

In the statement, the Arab committee reiterated its condemnation and denunciation of all Iranian interference in the internal affairs of Arab states and demanded Tehran stop this interference and its support for terrorist and subversive groups as well as its provocative and aggressive statements.

It stressed that it is important that relations with Iran should be based on respect of the sovereignty of other states and good neighbourliness