Saudi King invites Iran’s president to Islamic summit in Mecca

THURSDAY, 16 August 2012

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has sent an invitation to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to attend an emergency Islamic summit in Mecca later this month, according to Saudi state news agency (SPA).

SPA reported that the invitation was delivered by the Saudi Ambassador to Iran Mohammed al-Kilabi during a meeting with the Head of the Presidential Office Rahim Mashaie.

The Saudi king has called for “extraordinary Islamic solidarity meeting to ensure ... unity during this delicate time as the Muslim world faces dangers of fragmentation and sedition,” according to the Saudi Gazette .

The crisis in Syria is expected to top the agenda at the meeting that will be held on August 15-16 in the holy city.

A Saudi diplomat told Arab News Sunday that leaders of the 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) have been invited to attend the summit, adding that OIC foreign ministers would meet on August 13 to prepare for the summit.

OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu told the newspaper that in addition to the situation in Syria, the plight of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar would figure high on the summit’s agenda.

http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/08/05/230456.html

Ahmadinejad arrives in Saudi for Islamic summit

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived on Monday in Saudi Arabia ahead of an extraordinary summit in Mecca expected to focus on the Syria conflict, on which Tehran and Riyadh have taken opposing sides.

Ahmadinejad arrived in the Muslim holy city of Medina, in western Saudi Arabia, SPA state news agency said, adding that he visited the mosque and tomb of Islam's Prophet Mohammed.

The summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation is to take place on Tuesday and Wednesday in the Muslim holy city of Mecca.

"The world today is in a very sensitive situation," Ahmadinejad told reporters just before leaving Tehran, according to the Fars news agency.

"Different groups are at work and the enemies are actively pursuing their aims and a great deal of energy is being spent by Islamic governments and groups on arguing and confronting each other," he said.

"I hope that the summit will focus on increasing unity and lowering antagonism," he said.

Saudi Arabia hosts the headquarters of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, a 57-member pan-Muslim body.

The oil-rich Gulf nation, a close US ally that observes an extreme version of Sunni Islam (i.e. Wahhabism), supports the mostly Sunni rebels in Syria fighting to overthrow the Shiite-dominated regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Iran, a Shiite state, is Assad's biggest ally and has pledged him full support in his fight, though it denies providing him with soldiers or arms.

Tehran, however, accuses Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey of arming and financing the Syrian rebels.

Last week, Iran held its own 29-nation conference on Syria attended mostly by ambassadors from like-minded countries, with a couple of foreign ministers. Saudi Arabia was not present.

At the end of this month, Iran is to host another international gathering: a summit of the Non-Aligned Movement, which groups 120 countries considering themselves independent of any of the world's major power blocs.

Iran and Saudi Arabia, long regional rivals, have several other points of contention between them.

Among them is Bahrain, where Iran has criticised Saudi military involvement to put down Shiite pro-democracy protests and Riyadh has accused Tehran of meddling.

In parallel, Saudi Arabia has suggested Iran is to blame for fomenting unrest in its eastern province, where much of the Saudi oil industry is located.

Iran is also angry at Saudi Arabia for flooding the world market with its oil this year to prevent prices spiking because of EU and US sanctions on Iranian crude exports.

And Saudi Arabia has reacted furiously to what US officials said in October 2011 said was an Iran-sponsored plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to Washington. Tehran denies involvement.

The bad blood between Iran and Saudi Arabia goes back years, according to US diplomatic cables revealed by the WikiLeaks website.

One cable, dated April 20, 2008 and published on the website of the Guardian newspaper, noted that Saudi King Abdullah -- who invited Ahmadinejad to the Mecca summit -- had frequently exhorted the United States to attack Iran, to "cut off the head of the snake," as he put it.

Copyright © 2012 AFP. All rights reserved

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gAROLA8qmVLZczzaodS1LII1P1PA?docId=CNG.e73eac565bdf00246753ad8987decb91.601

This is what they all need to be doing, instead of what they have been doing all this while. Had similar effort been spent by all parties trying to find solution instead of fueling the conflict, Syria wouldn't have gotten this bad. Allah guide them.

Mai-suya:
This is what they all need to be doing, instead of what they have been doing all this while. Had similar effort been spent by all parties trying to find solution instead of fueling the conflict, Syria wouldn't have gotten this bad. Allah guide them.

in my opinion,it doesn't look like it would be a successful summit.yesterday a majority voted to suspend Syria's membership in the OIC.i am always skeptical about "unity meetings" called by the saudis and attended by an american envoy.

code: 337215 Date: 2012/08/16 - 12:22 source: presstv

Iran President: Kings unpopular at home talk of reform in Syria

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says he was surprised, during a recent summit in Saudi Arabia, to see the monarchs of certain countries speak of the need for reforms in Syria while their own rules were unpopular at home.

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says he was surprised, during a recent summit in Saudi Arabia, to see the monarchs of certain countries speak of the need for reforms in Syria while their own rules were unpopular at home.

Referring to the recent meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Mecca, Ahmadinejad said “I was surprised in this summit [to see] that the kings of some countries were speaking against Syria while the majority of their own people do not want them [to rule].”

The Iranian president made the comment in a Wednesday meeting with his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul on the sidelines of the OIC emergency meeting in Saudi Arabia.

During their meeting, Ahmadinejad underlined the inevitability of reforms but added, “I am of course waiting to see when these reforms will reach the other countries in the region.”

Killings and war cannot be employed to acheive reforms, the Iranian president pointed out.

Noting that all nations desire justice, freedom and respect, he emphasized that “no one can win by force,” and a government that comes to power by force cannot remain independent.

The Iranian chief executive further reiterated that the Islamic Republic is prepared to do whatever it can to establish a calm, humane and fair environment in Syria “so that people will no longer be killed and the situation will not get complicated.”

President Gul, for his part, underlined his country’s friendship with Iran and asserted that Turkey was pursuing its principles, including the the establishment of peace.

The two-day emergency meeting of the OIC members was held upon the request of Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz in Mecca to address major issues facing the Muslim world as well as the latest developments in the region.

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http://www.abna.ir/data.asp?lang=3&id=337215

Iran urges unity among Muslims in face of enemy plots

[img]http://previous.presstv.ir/photo/20120816/rabbani20120816092124187.jpg[/img]
Iran's First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi (R) and Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Ruz Nuri Shaways meet in Tehran, August 15, 2012.

Iran's First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi has underlined the need for unity and solidarity among Muslims in the face of the Western bids to create divisions and rifts in the Islamic world.


“Enemies are trying to create ethnic and religious divisions among Muslims to impede the progress of Muslim societies,” said Rahimi in a meeting with Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Ruz Nuri Shaways on Wednesday.

He underscored unity among Muslims and added that the Islamic world is in need of brotherhood as well as consolidated and deeply-rooted relations.

The Iranian official also called for the further expansion of ties between Iran and Iraq in all areas, particularly in the trade sector.


He highlighted Iraq’s “significant and influential” role in the resolution of the Syrian unrest and expressed hope that Tehran-Baghdad cooperation would help settle the Syrian crisis.

The Iraqi official, for his part, described his talks with Iranian officials as “positive and constructive” and expressed optimism that the obstacles to the further development of bilateral ties would be removed.

Shaways said that Baghdad was opposed to war and bloodshed and said any solution to be imposed on Syria by pressure or force will fail, and called for a solution supported by the Syrian people, which ‘will protect the interests of the entire region as well.’

AR/HJL/MA

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/256551.html