Arab League to discuss ‘Iranian meddling’ in the Middle East

In an interview with Al Jazeera’s Barbara Serra, Fawaz Gerges, head of the Middle East Studies at the London School of Economics, said given the current diplomatic condition, he fears that conflict will continue in Syria and “nothing will come out” of the upcoming talks, where Saudi and Iran are also at odds.

Opening the emergency Arab League session in Cairo, United Arab Emirates foreign minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan said the meeting “comes in light of a unsafe escalation”.

“It is entirely in the hands of Iran, whether it wants to be a good neighbor or it prefers to remain in a hostile environment within the region”, said Al-Jubeir, according to Arab News.

Iranian protesters responded by attacking the Saudi Embassy in Tehran and its consulate in Mashhad.

Iran was invited to take part in global talks on Syria for the first time in October, raising hopes that its presence would help end a five-year-long civil war.

The group said the “best way to force the regime to accept the (political) solution and stick by it” was to allow states that back the opposition to supply rebels with anti-aircraft missiles. “This is still the case, we believe in this and we fully support (the peace process) despite our differences with Iran”.

UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura concluded his trip to Iran on Sunday after making “useful exchanges” with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his deputy, said a statement from de Mistrua’s spokesperson in Geneva.

The GCC “totally supports” decisions taken by Saudi Arabia to combat terrorism and has “total confidence in the independence and integrity of Saudi justice”, the statement added.

“The gap between Iran and Saudi Arabia is only getting wider by the day”, Saeid Golkar, an Iranian expert at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, told Al Jazeera.

Mr Arabi was addressing Arab Lea-gue foreign ministers gat-hered in Cairo for emergency talks requested by Riyadh on the dispute, which erupted after Saudi Arabia executed prominent Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr. Earlier in January, Somalia joined Saudi allies, such as Bahrain and Sudan, and entirely cut diplomatic ties. Other Arab countries downgraded ties or recalled their envoys to Tehran.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran has always acted responsibly and constructively on crises”, Zarif added.

The dispute escalated, with Tehran on Thursday saying Saudi warplanes had bombed its embassy in Yemen, wounding staff, and vowing to approach the UN Security Council. His execution led to protests in Saudi Arabia as well as in Iran, Bahrain and other neighboring countries.

The Austrian capital of Vienna has played host to two rounds of multilateral talks over the past months for finding a way out of a lingering crisis in Syria. The official would not say which countries would refuse to support the resolution.