PRESS RELEASE

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Arab League Meeting Denounces Iran; Aims To Brief UN Security Council

Nov. 20, 2017 (EIRNS)—The Arab League met in Cairo yesterday, at the request of Saudi Arabia, and railed against Iran as if it were an existential threat to the Arab world. The only action they took was to ban Iranian-financed TV channels from Arab communications satellites.

"We are not declaring war on Iran at this stage," Arab League secretary general Ahmed Aboul Gheit said.

"We have not taken a decision to ask the Security Council to meet, but we are just briefing the council, and maybe the next stage would be for us to meet and call for a Security Council meeting and submit a draft Arab resolution"

against Iran.

The accusations against Iran and Hezbollah were wild. Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa, the foreign minister of Bahrain, claimed that Lebanon is under the "total control" of Hezbollah.

"Iran’s biggest arm in the region at the moment is the terrorist Hezbollah arm," he charged. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir told the meeting that his country would "not stand handcuffed" in the face of what he called "Iranian aggressions." "We are required today to confront Iran’s policies in order to preserve our national security," he said.

Lebanese Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil did not attend but reportedly interceded by phone with ten Arab foreign ministers to prevent the final statement from the meeting from holding "the Lebanese republic" responsible for Hezbollah’s "terrorist" actions.

In Tehran, Iranian foreign minister Mohamed Javad Zarif found all of these declarations to be particularly ironic.

"Irony is, [Kindom of Saudi Arabia] accuses Iran of destabilization, while itself fuels terrorists, wages war on Yemen, blockades Qatar & foments crisis in Lebanon,"

he tweeted, reported Tasnim.