The 13th Summit of Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) will be held in Istanbul, Turkey,on April 10-15. The OIC leaders summit will take place on Thursday and Friday, while Sunday and Monday meetings will be held among the senior experts of member countries. Ministerial meetings will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday.
A preparatory meeting to the Summit was held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in February, in which Iran was unable to attend due to Saudi Arabias failure in issuing visas for the Iranian delegation.
Ebrahim Rahimpour, Deputy FM for Asia-Pacific Affairs, had said earlier this March that if Saudis were intending to cause dispute and division in the 13th Islamic Summit in Istanbul, it would not be appropriate for Iran to participate.
Foreign Minister Zarif is diligently trying to see what the final statement of the summit will be so that we will make a decision about our participation based on this information, he had said.
Iran and Saudi Arabia had a fallout in their diplomatic relations on January 3 following demonstrations held in front of the Saudi embassy in Tehran and its consulate in the northeastern city of Mashhad by angry protesters censuring the Al Saud family for the execution of prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr in Riyadh on January 2. Previous incidents including Jedday Airport harrassment of two Iranian teenagers, tower crane collapse in Mecca killing many pilgrims including some Iranians and Mina tragic stampede due to misconduct of Saudi officials which led to death of thousands of Hajj pilgrims including nearly 500 Iranians have stirred anger at Saudis among Iranian public.
By Mehr News Agency
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