Lavrov said this at a news conference after the talks with OIC Secretary-General Yousef Al-Othaimeen.

“We have confirmed our proposal to start dialogue between Iran and Arab countries aimed at trust-building, transparency in military activities and finally, for the talks on the formation of a collective security architecture,” Lavrov said.

OIC is an alliance of currently 56 countries mainly located in Western Asia and in Western Africa.

All member states comprise a total area of 31.66 million km² and about 1.78 billion people. This is 21.0% of the habitable area around the world and 24% of the world population.

Ruhollah Khomeni, leader of the revolution, founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and its first Supreme Leader, declared that, “The concept of monarchy totally contradicts Islam.”

Therefore, Arab leaders developed a hostile attitude towards the Islamic Republic of Iran. Khomeini’s idea of supporting the mustazafeen (those who are wronged or oppressed) – as opposed to the mustakbareen (those who are arrogant) – led to many problems with neighboring countries due to some Arab regimes being judged by Iranian jurists to be among the mustakbareen.

Ayatallah Khomeini was open about his intention to export the revolution to other parts of the Muslim world. Thus, during the early 1980s, Iran was isolated regionally and internationally.

This diplomatic and economic isolation intensified during the Iran-Iraq war in which almost all neighboring Arab states, except Syria, supported Iraq logistically and economically.

In 2016, a group of religious extremists attacked and ransacked the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Tehran and the Saudi Consulate in Mashhad. Soon after, Saudi Arabia and five other countries cut diplomatic relations with Iran.

In 2009, Morocco severed ties with Iran over claims that the Iranians were spreading Shia ideology in the Sunni kingdom and undermining the national security of the country.

Today, Iran and Saudi Arabia are involved in a proxy war in Yemen, while Tehran’s role in countries such as Syria, Lebanon and Palestine is heavily criticized by the international community.

Both Arab leaders and Western observers say Iran is on a quest to export its Islamic Revolution across the Middle East. (Sputnik/NAN)