Iran Protests Saudi Arabia's Visa Denial for Islamic Cooperation Meeting

Iran's Foreign Ministry has protested against the Saudi government's refusal to issue a visa for an Iranian delegation intending to attend the Islamic Cooperation Organization meeting in Jeddah. Iran stated that it would convey its objections to the relevant authorities. The Islamic Cooperation Organization, comprising 57 Muslim countries, was established in 1969, and after its first summit in Jeddah, the city was chosen as the permanent headquarters of its secretariat. The summit of senior officials of the Islamic Cooperation Organization will be held on Sunday and Monday, March 8 and 9, under the presidency of Turkey, and is expected to prepare drafts of documents and resolutions for the upcoming leaders' summit in Istanbul. In this context, Hamid Baidi-Nejad, the Director General for Political and International Affairs at Iran's Foreign Ministry, emphasized in an interview with the IRNA news agency that 'any decision made without the participation of the Islamic Republic of Iran's political delegation in Jeddah will lack any form of legitimacy and credibility.' Mr. Baidi-Nejad expressed hope that Saudi Arabia would adopt a 'realistic policy' that would allow the Islamic Cooperation Organization to focus on priority issues of the Islamic world, such as 'Palestine, terrorism, sectarianism, and common problems of the Islamic community,' rather than secondary topics. Since the attack by 'rogue groups' on its diplomatic missions in Tehran and Mashhad, Saudi Arabia has severed all relations with Iran, and several other Islamic countries have followed suit by cutting or limiting their relations with Tehran. This attack, which followed the execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent Shia cleric, also prompted a reaction from the Islamic Cooperation Organization, where foreign ministers of member countries condemned the attack on Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran and called for Tehran to respect the policy of good neighborliness with its neighbors. Although this summit was held after the severing of relations between Riyadh and Tehran, Abbas Araghchi, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for International Affairs, and Hamid Baidi-Nejad attended. The statement from the Islamic Cooperation Organization at that time faced opposition from Iran, and among member countries, Lebanon, emphasizing its position to stay away from tensions between Riyadh and Tehran, did not vote positively on the statement, while Iraq, Algeria, and Indonesia expressed dissent or abstained on some points of the final statement. Following this meeting, Iran, through its Foreign Ministry spokesperson, described the purpose of the recent Islamic Cooperation Organization meeting as 'an effort to support Saudi state terrorism.' Hossein Jaberi Ansari told reporters at that time that the final statement of the Jeddah meeting 'ignored the existing realities regarding the Saudi embassy incident and the swift actions of the Iranian government' and 'by addressing unrelated issues on the agenda of the meeting, effectively served the objectives of a specific country.' Both Iran and Saudi Arabia have been members of the Islamic Cooperation Organization since 1969, during which time Iran has held the presidency once, and Saudi Arabia twice.