IRNA - Iran�s Deputy Foreign Minister Gholam-Hossein Dehqani criticized certain countries saying that they misuse the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to achieve their own foreign policy objectives.


A very few are using their money to turn this important Organization into an appendix of their own foreign policy, Dehqani said in a statement addressing the Meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the OIC.

The full text of Dehqani�s address is as follows:

Mr. Chairman,

Distinguished colleagues,

Today, the whole world, especially our Islamic countries, are facing two overarching challenges that mutually reinforce each other and threaten peace, security, stability and development in our regions: The first challenge is an extreme unilateralism that is once again reemerging and being aggressively promoted by the current US administration. Despite the effective opposition by the large majority of UN Member States, including in the ongoing debate in the General Assembly and the Security Council meeting on Wednesday, the US is doggedly pursuing its course, relying only on its military and economic power. The OIC, as an Organization and all its Member States, need to join the large block of nations, who stand up against unilateralism and, in particular, refuse to give effect to any irresponsible and illegal acts, including criminal sanctions against my country.

The second challenge continues to be unbridled violent extremism, which is provoked by continued occupation, US military interventions and presence in our region and the hate ideology and the money that promotes it. Despite the successful fight by the peoples of our region against extremism and terrorism in which my country had honour to play an important role, the extremist and terrorist groups are yet to be rooted out. They are still a major threat in the Middle East and elsewhere, like Afghanistan, where they are being relocated to. Commitment to the norms and principles of international law is the best defense against both extremism and unilateralism and prevent these scourges from spreading and changing the course of humanity.

Among the issues our Islamic world is facing and the OIC has specific duty to address, the Yemen crisis stands out. There, a so-called coalition, assisted closely by the US, has unleashed �the beautiful arms� they receive from the US against a desperate civilian population, committing war crimes, laying siege on the country and creating a humanitarian catastrophe. Four years of invasion is apparently yet to wake them up to the futility of their exercise and have them adopt a peaceful course as the only possible way out. Instead, they resort to absurd lies against Iran, accusing us unsubstantiatedly to provide weapons to the Yemenis despite their inhumane blockade. This is a just lie to justify the clear-cut defeat of their approach.

Under these circumstances, it is much more unfortunate that a very few countries in our fold repeat the baseless claims made up by the US government. They simply don�t know or ignore the fact that the US government accuses Iran for better serving the Israeli regime. They know that in Syria, Iran is helping and assisting the internationally-recognized Syrian government to push back those terrorist groups supported by the same governments that accuse Iran of supporting terrorism.

Mr. Chairman

Another major point of concern for us is the consistent attempt to change the nature of our Organization and neutralize it as a means to address challenges. We all know very well what prompted the Islamic world in 1969 to create this Organization. It is extremely unfortunate that a few governments, pursuing their narrow agendas, are trying to change the OIC�s goals and prevent it from pursuing the fulfillment of what it was created for, i.e., safeguarding the interests of the Islamic Oumah in the face of Zionist expansionism and its supporters and helping the Palestinians to establish their own State with Jerusalem as its capital.

Increasingly, far from targeting the enemies of Islamic nations or trying to stop wars among Muslims, the OIC is being pushed, instead, towards adopting new priorities, away from those our forefathers set forth. A very few are using their money to turn this important Organization into an appendix of their own foreign policy. For that reason, this Organization and its Secretariat are forced increasingly to ignore the rules according to which every multilateral organization must conduct its business. This, undoubtedly, has already damaged the credibility of our Organization and if we stay the same course and do nothing to rehabilitate it, more damages will be in the offing.

Mr. Chairman,

These are the main challenges that the Islamic world and its Organization are facing. I encourage you and my dear colleagues think them thorough seriously consider effective measures to address.