Ahmadinejad accuses US of creating Iran, Arab tension

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TEHRAN, Apr 18 (agencies): President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday accused the United States of wanting to create tension between Iran and Arabs, after Gulf Arab states urged the Iranian regime to stop interfering in their affairs. "America and its allies are trying to create an Iranian-Arab tension, they seek to sow discord among Shiites and Sunnis... but their plan will fail," the hardliner said at Iran's annual Army Day parade, where the military displayed a range of home-built drones and missiles. "America is not an honest friend and the record shows it has drawn swords against its own friends and those who have sacrificed themselves for America," Ahmadinejad said in a speech broadcast live on state television. "America has done it in order to save its interests. But they should know that they have no place among nations," Ahmadinejad said. His latest outburst came a day after the Gulf Cooperation Council's six member states, who are all ruled by Sunnis, called on the Iranian regime to stop its "interference" in the GCC. The group called in a statement on "the international community and the (UN) Security Council to take the necessary measures to make flagrant Iranian interference and provocations aimed at sowing discord and destruction" among GCC states. It said the GCC-Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates-"categorically rejects all foreign interference in its affairs... and invites the Iranian regime to stop its provocations." Saudi Arabia separately on Sunday threatened to recall its diplomats from Tehran unless they were better protected. Meanwhile: A Saudi minister urged Iran on Monday to protect its diplomats in the Islamic republic and threatened unspecified measures if it failed to do so. Iranian students demonstrated outside the Saudi embassy in Tehran last Monday, protesting against the Gulf Arab state's role in Bahrain, media reports said. Last month, Iranian protesters broke windows at a Saudi consulate in Mashhad. "We hope that these continuous violations will not lead us to take other positions," Saudi Deputy Foreign Minister Prince Turki bin Saud al-Kabeer was quoted as saying by the newspaper al-Watan.