Riyadh Abuses Privilege of Hosting OIC, Bars Iran from Jeddah Summit

In comments on Sunday, Mousavi provided a description of the Saudi government’s move to prevent Iran from participating in an OIC meeting in Jeddah.

“Following the US president’s unveiling of the Zionist plan known as ‘deal of the century’, it was decided – at the suggestion of the Palestinian National Authority and at the invitation of secretary-general of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation – that an extraordinary meeting of the executive committee of the OIC would be held at the level of foreign ministers of the Member States on Monday, February 3, 2020, at the headquarters of the OIC secretariat in Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah in order to examine that plan and adopt stances on it.”

“Although the secretary-general of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation had invited the Islamic Republic of Iran as an active member of the Organisation to take part in the Jeddah meeting, the Saudi government – which hosts the Organisation’s secretariat in Jeddah – violated the definite commitments as the government hosting this international Organisation as well as the plain principles stipulated in the modus operandi of such organisations, such as the necessity of ensuring the free and unrestricted participation of the Member States in all activities of the Organisation, and denied the Islamic Republic of Iran’s delegation led by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Hossein Jaberi Ansari visa until the final hours before the meeting,” Mousavi added.

“The trend in excluding the delegations representing certain Member States, including the Islamic Republic of Iran, from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s meetings and conferences held in Jeddah at the OIC secretariat has been intensified by Saudi Arabia over the past months,” he noted.

“Such an approach adopted by the Saudi government has been deplored by a number of the Member States, which have accused that country (Saudi Arabia) of abusing the privilege of hosting this international Organisation and of improper exploitation of the OIC to fulfill its own political interests and objectives,” the Iranian spokesman added.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs submits a formal note of protest to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s secretariat, the contents of which will be also distributed among the Organisation’s Member States, highlights Saudi Arabia’s abuse of hosting the Organisation’s headquarters in order to obstruct the process of its activities, including by restricting the free participation of the Member States in the Organisation’s meetings in Jeddah, particularly on a major subject like Palestine, and declares that the competence of this regime (Saudi Arabia) to continue playing host to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s headquarters has been seriously questioned,” the Iranian spokesman concluded.