TEHRAN - Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi has said that Iran, Oman and Kuwait are determined to expand “strategic” ties.

“Sultan Qaboos bin Said al Said and Kuwait’s Emir Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah have always sought to expand relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran and also form a collective mechanism with participation of Iran and (other) regional countries for security and stability of the region,” he told IRNA on Thursday.

He said President Hassan Rouhani’s visit to Oman and Kuwait and the warm welcomes that he received by the two countries’ rulers indicate that “provocative policies” of the extra-regional powers are fruitless.

Rouhani took a one-day trip to Oman and Kuwait on Wednesday.

The trips came weeks after Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Khalid al-Hamad Al Sabah traveled to Tehran on January 25, bearing a letter from the country’s emir on behalf of six Persian Gulf littoral states seeking to fix ties with Tehran.

Iran and Saudi Arabia cut off diplomatic ties in January 2016 following attack on Saudi Arabia’s embassy by dozens of protestors who had been enraged by the execution of pro-democracy Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr Baqr al-Nimr.

Following Saudi Arabia’s severance of relations with Iran, certain Persian Gulf Arab countries cut off or downgraded ties with Iran.

Riyadh and some other Arab countries claim that Iran interferes in their countries by fueling sectarianism to expand its sphere of influence. However, Tehran denies any interference in the regional countries’ affairs.

NA/PA