The Gulf Cooperation Council’s (GCC) ministerial council voiced hope that the Raisi administration “would play a positive role in alleviating the tension and building trust between the GCC states” and Iran, and “that the nuclear talks would tackle Iran’s destabilising role in the region and its sponsorship of terrorist and sectarian militias as well as the country’s missile program, and the safety of international navigation and oil facilities”. The council went on to condemn “Iran’s failure to meet its nuclear obligations through accelerating uranium enrichment above the level needed for peaceful purposes”, calling on “Iran to back down from this move and cooperate fully with the International Atomic Energy Agency”. Iran’s diplomatic spokesperson dismissed “any interference in its peaceful nuclear and missile programs as well as issues pertinent to its defence policies”, while contending that “the region needs a paradigm shift to rid itself of outside dependence and turn to constructive inter-regional interaction and go for inclusion rather than exclusion”.