Bahrain Mirror: The Bahraini Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmad Al Khalifa, said that the Gulf Cooperation Council's (GCC) relations with the United Kingdom do not reflect a decline in the US-Gulf relations. He stressed that the relation with Britain is "not on the expense of the US-Gulf relations."

In a press conference held on the sidelines of the Gulf Cooperation Council Summit (Thursday December 8, 2016), the Foreign Minister confirmed that the US has not taken the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA) law "against any of our countries, yet we are aware that it harms the relations between states". "We deal with the US as one of the most important countries, and work is underway with all our friends in the US, and there is a perception that this issue will not affect the relations with the US," he went on to say.

Moreover, the Minister said that the Gulf States do not have any intention to offend Iran, claiming that "abuses always come from Iran". "The issue that Iran has a "revolution", This is its revolution and not ours. The support for terrorism in some countries should stop, and there should be respect for the countries' sovereignty. If these are achieved, then we would be responsive to Iran," Bahrain's Foreign Minister added. He also noted that the Prince of Kuwait had received a letter from Iran, and they will respond to it.

In response to reports issued by international human rights organizations about the human rights situation in Bahrain, the minister said, "There are human rights organizations that we receive and deal with, and with whom we have meetings in all the cities of the world. We might disagree in opinions, attitudes and notice some prejudice, but this does not mean that we consider them to be enemies and deal with them as if there is "war". We ought to do our duty to highlight the GCC countries before the world, along with our successes in maintaining human rights."

Furthermore, Minister Khalid Al Khalifa also discussed at the press conference the popular mobilization in Iraq, saying, "The continuation of the popular mobilization as an independent body without fully joining the Iraqi army and making it under an independent institution, makes the situation "floating" [or lost]." He indicated that "the more this situation remains like this, the more sectarianism will find its way deep among the Iraqi people." "Our position is clear towards Iraq; we support the Iraqi sovereignty and its stability, and we seek stability for this country", he asserted.

Arabic Version