TEHRAN The Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hamid Reza Assefi yesterday criticized the six-member Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC) for its recent declaration on the misunderstanding between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

In their final declaration at the end of the 21st PGCC summit, the PGCC leaders assured Abu Dhabi of their support for the UAE in its claim to the three Iranian islands and called on Iran to accept the referral of the case to the International Court of Justice.

They also condemned Iran's refusal to receive a tripartite ministerial committee formed by the PGCC in 1999 to mediate between Iran and the UAE.

"Iran will never accept any mediation over the issue of islands, which are an integral and permanent part of Iran," underlined the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman at a press conference.

"We regret the PGCC move, which is not in the framework of international regulations and good neighborly ties," he said, adding that the declaration lacks the spirit of cooperation.

Assefi reiterated that Iran has time and again expressed readiness to hold direct talks with UAE without any preconditions to remove the misunderstanding over the island of Abu Musa.

"To protect the regional security, Iran will not accept any intervention, which is harmful to bilateral relations, and the PGCC should have considered the existing realities," he added.

He said Iran welcomes a regional security pact if all regional countries join such an agreement.

"Any maneuvers conducted by Iran in its territory is the indisputable right of the Islamic Republic," he stressed.

The PGCC comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Asked about Iran's assessment of the new administration in Washington, Assefi said individuals and political parties are not Iran's criteria to judge us policies rather the basis for judgment is U.S. deeds.

He added if U.S. policies in future are different from the those in the past and are not hostile, then Iran will take due note of them and act accordingly. Iran judges the U.S. on the basis of its deeds, he said.

Turning to the Palestine issue, Assefi said the situation in the occupied territories demonstrates that the prospect for peace is not encouraging at all, since the Zionist regime is incessantly imposing its racist ideas with its racist and expansionist policies.

He pointed to the rifts in Israel's internal politics and said, some factions have said that they would not adhere to a peace accord which may be signed by other factions.

Responding to question about U.S. mediation efforts, Assefi said Washington has failed in its efforts because the United States does not pursue an impartial policy in the Middle East.

On the rotating presidency of Sweden in the European Union, Assefi said, "We have good relations with Sweden and I think that during the Sweden's chairmanship, Iran and Europe will continue their dialogue. Bilateral relations between Iran and Sweden will be followed up as well."

Asked about Iran's programs in the Year of Dialogue Among Civilizations (the Year 2001), Assefi said there will be a tight schedule for the year and the executive plans for the year have been discussed with UN secretary general's special envoy and various issues in the regional and international levels are on the agenda.

On the hostile stance taken by some media in Azerbaijan Republic toward Iran, Assefi said those positions should be differentiated from Baku's official policies. However, he advised the Azerbaijani media to pay due attention to supreme interests of both countries.

He said what the Azerbaijani media say is unacceptable and if they think that they can attain a status by this, they are surely making a mistake.

Assefi said, "We have witnessed few inappropriate positions by the government of Azerbaijan in the past few months. We attach importance to working with Azerbaijan and bilateral ties, especially in the economic sector, is not a matter to be overlooked."