DHAKA: When the leaders of the six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) meet in Kuwait on Tuesday, Iran and its developing relations with western countries are likely to feature high on the summit agenda.

Gulf analysts said, reports gulfnews.com.

The Iranian nuclear agreement with world powers and its political rapprochement with western countries are also expected to boost efforts of member states to strengthen their 32-year-old bloc and heed calls to transform the alliance into a Gulf union, analysts added.

But the proposal to develop the body into a fully-fledged union has proven divisive, with Oman threatening to leave the GCC if the idea materialises.

The group also includes Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and the UAE.

‘The summit is held amid extremely sensitive and delicate situations that require member states to study the consequences for the GCC,’ Secretary General Abdul Latif Al Zayani said ahead of the two-day summit.

‘Tehran is trying to create a wedge between Saudi Arabia and some GCC states like Oman and Qatar,’ said Saudi political analyst Khaled Al Dakhil.

‘Undoubtedly, all the GCC summits, since their establishment (in 1981) were preoccupied with the Iranian neighbour,’ said prominent UAE political science professor Abdul Khaleq Abdullah.

BDST: 2039 HRS, DEC 09, 2013