Gulf leaders from left, Kuwaiti Emir Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Omani Deputy Prime Minister Fahd Bin Mahmoud Al-Saeed, King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, Bahraini King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai pose for group picture before the opening of Gulf Cooperation Council summit in Riyadh, Tuesday. (SPA) All Yemen sides urged to sign deal RIYADH: The six Gulf states Tuesday agreed to expand their regional grouping to include Jordan and Morocco and urged a quick political deal in Yemen. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) welcomed bids by the two Arab kingdoms to join the six-nation grouping of Gulf monarchies, its Secretary General Abdul Latif Al-Zayani said. “Leaders of the GCC welcomed the request of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan to join the council and instructed the foreign ministers to enter into negotiations to complete the procedures,” Al-Zayani told reporters. He said the same procedure would be followed with Morocco. Al-Zayani's remarks came after a summit of the GCC here discussed relations with Iran, the unrest in Yemen and the tensions sweeping the region. The heads of state demanded that all sides in Yemen, which has limited observer status in the GCC, sign a transition plan brokered by the bloc. “The council urged all parties in Yemen to sign the agreement which is the best way out of the crisis and spare the country further political division and deterioration of security,” the GCC leaders said in a joint statement. It said their transition plan for Yemen was a “comprehensive agreement that would preserve Yemen's security, stability and unity.” GCC heads of state discussed the bloc's mediation efforts which stalled this month in the face of President Ali Abdullah Saleh's refusal to sign up to proposals which would require him to stand down. He has been insisting that any transfer of power should be in line with the constitution which would allow him to serve out his term until 2013. Al-Zayani traveled to Sana'a last week to invite members of the government and the opposition to sign the transition plan in Riyadh and to obtain the president's signature but he returned empty-handed. At Tuesday's summit, the Gulf leaders also criticized Iran's “continued interference” in their internal affairs. Relations between Iran and its Gulf Arab neighbors have deteriorated sharply, with the bloc accusing Tehran of seeking to destabilize some Arab governments by stoking the unrest that has rocked the region.
