Iran communicated to Saudi Arabia its protest at Riyadh’s refusal to issue visas for an Iranian political delegation that sought to join a meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in the Saudi kingdom. The meeting of senior officials from the OIC member states took place on Sunday and Monday in Jeddah. It was to draft documents and resolutions that are to be addressed in the Muslim entity’s upcoming summit in Istanbul, Turkey. On Sunday, Hamid Baeidinejad, director general for political and international security affairs at the Foreign Ministry, said the visa denial was “against the law” and “discriminatory”, saying the Islamic Republic has notified relevant Saudi authorities of its objection over the move. “Any decision to be taken in Jeddah in the absence of the Iranian political delegation lacks any official status and credit,” he was quoted as saying by Press TV. Baeidinejad hoped that Riyadh would prevent OIC from becoming preoccupied with peripheral matters and instead allow the organization to address issues of priority for the Muslim world, including Palestine, sectarianism and terrorism.
