He asserted that there exist many circles who are bent on stirring up discord among Mulsim countries especially in the Persian Gulf region in a bid to hamper their unity in handling the main problems of the region and the Mulsim world.

Rafsanjani said Islamic Republic of Iran constantly tries to strengthen its relations with regional states and accordingly the current year has been named as the "Year of Islamic Coherence".

He said: "When the Afghanistan's president and the Iraqi prime minister expressed their satisfaction and grtitude for Iran's cooperation and assistance, the US president reacted hastlily and this shows that the world oppression tends to sow discord in the Muslim world and is not happy to witness the friendship among Muslim countries." Referring to problems of Muslims notably in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and Palestine, Ayatollah Rafsanjani underscored the need for the capabilities of the Islamic states to be pooled to solve these problems in line with Islamic principles and for strengthening the national interests of the regional countries.

The Bahraini diplomat in the meeting called for boosting and expanding bilateral relations to the benefit of the Muslim world and said Bahrain is keen to have freindly and sound relations with Iran.

Sa'ad al-Dousari added that Islamic states in the region have a common fate and thus no problem would be resolved without their friendly cooperation.

... Payvand News - 8/12/07 ... --