Al Khalifa discussed the proposed talks with Iran in an address to the Manama Dialogue security conference in Bahrain on Dec. 8. The crown prince said a GCC-Iran dialogue would require a third party, preferably the so-called EU-3, comprised of Britain, France and Germany.
ABU DHABI [MENL] -- The Gulf Cooperation Council has been examining the prospect of a formal dialogue with Iran on regional security.
Officials said GCC leaders have been discussing a strategic dialogue with Iran that would include its nuclear and conventional weapons program. They said the dialogue could be arranged by a Western power acceptable to both sides.
"We need a continuous dialogue with Iran -- not an occasional one -- and a unified voice so there is no doubt or ambiguity about our intentions," Bahraini Crown Prince Salman Bin Hamad Al Khalifa said.
Al Khalifa discussed the proposed talks with Iran in an address to the Manama Dialogue security conference in Bahrain on Dec. 8. The crown prince said a GCC-Iran dialogue would require a third party, preferably the so-called EU-3, comprised of Britain, France and Germany.
"A trusted third party is required to mediate between regional powers," Al-Khalifa told the seminar, co-sponsored by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.
Officials said Al-Khalifa's recommendation has been discussed by GCC leaders, who ended a two-day summit in Saudi Arabia on Sunday. The crown prince said the dialogue should also include China, India, Russia and the United States and focus on the nuclear issue as well as the Arab-Israeli conflict.
"Iran is a major regional power in military terms - even without nuclear weapons," the crown prince said.
On Oct. 30, Bahrain hosted a two-day U.S.-led naval exercise off the coast of Iran. The exercise, the first by the Proliferation Security Initiative in the Gulf, conducted a scenario in which a shipment of weapons of mass destruction headed toward Iran was tracked and intercepted.
Iran has demanded that the six GCC states agree to a security architecture. The arrangement would include the expulsion of U.S. forces from the region.
All six GCC states contain a U.S. military presence. The largest American presence has been in Kuwait, with more than 15,000 U.S. troops.
On Sunday, GCC leaders said they would examine a plan to cooperate in the development of nuclear energy. The leaders, who discussed Iran's nuclear program, said they have ordered the feasibility of the plan.
"The countries of the region have the right to nuclear energy technology for peaceful purposes," GCC Secretary-General Abdul Rahman Al Atiyya said. "The higher committee ordered a GCC-wide study to be carried out to create a joint program in nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, according to international standards and arrangements."
