Iran will take part in the third International Institute for Strategic Studies Gulf Dialogue to be held by Manama from December 8 to 10, the Iranian ambassador to Bahrain yesterday told Gulf News.
"I have received the invitation and I believe that we will take part in the meeting, like we did last year," Mohammad Farazmand said.
Iran, at odds with several of its neighbours over the merits of its nuclear programme, would figure prominently at the dialogue which addresses regional security issues and attracts an increasingly higher number of participants.
By Habib Toumi, Bureau Chief
Manama: Iran will take part in the third International Institute for Strategic Studies Gulf Dialogue to be held by Manama from December 8 to 10, the Iranian ambassador to Bahrain yesterday told Gulf News.
"I have received the invitation and I believe that we will take part in the meeting, like we did last year," Mohammad Farazmand said.
Iran, at odds with several of its neighbours over the merits of its nuclear programme, would figure prominently at the dialogue which addresses regional security issues and attracts an increasingly higher number of participants.
The inaugural sessions in 2004 brought together the six Gulf Cooperation Council states, Iran, Iraq, Yemen, the United States, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan and Singapore. The following year, India, China and Germany were also involved.
Iranian officials are likely to use the three-day high-profile meeting of the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, to renew their calls for a new security strategy in the Middle East and the Gulf region based on "active contribution of all regional states and exit of foreign troops from the region".
Iran is seeking to use the opportunity provided by changes in Iraq to reintegrate itself into the region's safety order and is aggressively pushing for a common security system.
Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mohammadi had said that the situation in Iraq and four wars in the Arabian Gulf and the Middle East during the past three decades "clearly showed the need for a security strategy through cooperation of all regional countries in an area free from foreign forces".
