Iran's Arab neighbours want assurances nuclear deal not against them

MANAMA // Arabian Gulf nations want assurances that Tehran’s deal with world powers will indeed enhance regional security, Bahrain’s interior minister said on Thursday.

Gulf states have cautiously welcomed the interim accord signed on Sunday as a step towards curbing what they fear is a secret Iranian programme to develop nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran denies.

“The initial agreement between the Iranian republic and the big powers over its nuclear file makes us expect from these states to clarify to the leaders and people of the region that the agreement that has been reached serves to achieve regional security stability,” the interior minister, Sheikh Rashed bin Abdullah Al Khalifa, said.

Addressing the start of a regular meeting of Gulf Cooperation Council interior ministers in Bahrain, he said Gulf states wanted to be certain that the accord “would not be at the expense of the security of any member of the Council”.

“It is not a secret that we in Bahrain have felt (threats that) affect our security, with all foreign-related links to that.”

Bahrain, which hosts the US Fifth Fleet as a strategic bulwark against Iran across the Gulf, has suffered frequent unrest since 2011 when its Shiite majority took to the streets demanding reforms and a bigger say in government.

The monarchy in Bahrain and in neighbouring Saudi Arabia have regularly accused Iran of fomenting the unrest.

US officials have said that the nuclear deal, to be the basis of a longer-term comprehensive settlement with Iran negotiated next year, will if fully implemented help make the region more stable and secure.

The UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency yesterday said Iran had invited it to a facility linked to a still unfinished reactor that could produce enough plutonium for up to two warheads a year.

Yukiya Amano, who heads the agency, said the IAEA will accept the offer to visit the heavy water plant in the central city of Arak.

He did not give a date for when the IAEA would start implementing its role under the Geneva deal, but suggested that it would take some time, in part because his agency was not informed earlier to prepare for the mission.

The invitation for December 8 is not part of the six-power deal, which commits Iran to freeze its nuclear programme for six months in return for limited relief from economic sanctions. But it shows Tehran is starting to comply with separate commitments to open previously off-limits sites to IAEA inspectors.

The status of the Arak plant had been one of the major issues during negotiations leading to last weekend’s agreement in Geneva.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Wednesday some construction will continue at Arak. Iran insists its programme is entirely for peaceful purposes.

*Reuters and Associated Press