TEHRAN, 10 July 2005 — Iran yesterday reiterated its desire for peaceful and cooperative relations with Gulf states following a diplomatic spat with Bahrain. “Statesmen in the Islamic Republic of Iran have a peaceful and friendly view on the Persian Gulf,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said.
“By detente and confidence building policies, (President Mohammad) Khatami’s administration has made great achievements that will be used by the new government to continue friendly cooperation with the countries in the region in particular and all Muslim states in general,” he said. Earlier this month, Iran lodged a formal protest to Bahrain after a newspaper there published a cartoon deemed insulting to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Meanwhile, at least 32 people have drowned while trying to cool off on the weekend along northern Iran’s Caspian Sea coastline, Iranian state television said.
The report said the victims appeared to be over-enthusiastic weekend holiday-makers who flocked to the 740-kilometer coastline on Friday and charged into the water regardless of their swimming abilities. “Thirty-two bodies have been recovered of people who went too far into the sea and were not good swimmers,” the report said.
