Arab League sources revealed to Asharq Al-Awsat yesterday that the committee set up by Arab foreign ministers at their recent meeting in Cairo is studying the statements made by the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Mohammad Ali Jafari who admitted that Iran has trained around 200,000 fighters in five countries that include Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

An official Arab League source expressed the concern of Arab states in response to the statements of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander and said that “such hostilities and provocative statements” are monitored by the tripartite ministerial committee which was set up specifically to follow the crisis with Iran. The source also said that those provocative statements are clear and new evidence of Iran’s involvement in inciting discord in the region.

Egyptian diplomatic sources condemned Iran’s violations and its blatant interference in the affairs of Arab countries and said that Iran’s persistence in issuing irresponsible statements will be confronted by a solid Arab stance.

The Jordanian Minister of State for Media Affairs and Communications Mohammad Al-Momani who is also the official spokesperson for the government told Asharq Al-Awsat that Jordan calls on Iran to respect the principle of non-interference in the affairs of other countries. He added that “Jordan will be concerned about the behaviour of any country, regardless of its name, that does not respect this principle”.

In the latest sensation in Iranian circles, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s uncle Hossein Mirdamadi harshly criticised his nephew and scolded him over Tehran’s criticism of Nimr Al-Nimr’s execution in Saudi Arabia whilst turning a blind eye to its regime’s crimes.

Mirdamadi’s criticism came in a letter published by the opposition Saham News website on Thursday that included nine points that Khamenei’s uncle mentioned. Amongst them were the repressive violations that the Iranian regime committed against the opposition and the arresting of journalists and activists. Mirdamadi asked the Leader “Are your statements regarding the execution of Nimr Al-Nimr part of the oppression that the Iranian regime carries out and that includes the arrest of journalists and political activists who languish in jail for long periods of time, or do you like criticising others and do not see your crimes?”