Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ismael Baqaei told reporters on Tuesday that Iran had succeeded in preventing two paragraphs on Yemen from being included in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) communiqué adopted on Sunday. “The resolution must be distinguished from the Baghdad Declaration. The most important outcome of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Baghdad was the final communiqué, which is usually adopted by consensus. About one or two hours before the communiqué was adopted, it was proposed that the text should not include any issues that could cause divisions among Islamic countries. Specifically, this referred to Yemen,” he said, reported IRNA.

“Labeling part of the Islamic community at an Islamic gathering runs counter to the philosophy behind the establishment of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and its ideals of Islamic unity and solidarity. We repeatedly emphasized this point and ultimately succeeded in preventing the inclusion of two specific paragraphs on Yemen, whose wording we believed was in no way in the interests of the Muslim Ummah [global community—ed.],” Baqaei added.