GCC communiqué: Positive on Iran

The Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) summit ended on 11 December with a communiqué which welcomed the “new stand of the Iranian leadership towards the GCC states” and the preliminary agreement signed by the P5+1 and Iran (GSN 959/1), and “stressed the importance of closer co-operation between GCC countries and Iran”, according to UAE state news agency Wam. The communiqué follows 1-4 December visits to Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the UAE by Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who said the trip was “to open a new page in relations with the Gulf”.