RIYADH: Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said Monday that Iran should keep out of the kingdom's relations with Shia-majority Bahrain, even if the two states decide to form a union.

“Iran has nothing to do with what happens between the two countries, even if it develops into a unity,” he told reporters at the end of a Gulf Cooperation Council consultative summit in Riyadh to discuss turning the bloc into a union.

GCC leaders agreed to allow time for further discussions over the proposed Gulf union, Saud said.

Iranian MPs earlier on Monday condemned the planned union between Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

“The Iranian threat is not accepted,” Prince Saud said, after a letter signed by 190 MPs warned Bahraini and Saudi rulers “they must understand that this unwise decision will only strengthen the Bahraini people's resolve against the forces of occupation.”

Saudi-led Gulf forces rolled into Bahrain in March 2011 to boost the kingdom's security forces which a day later crushed month-old, Shia-dominated protests.

The letter, read out in the 290-member parliament, warned that “the crisis in Bahrain will be transferred to Saudi Arabia and will push the region towards insecurity.”

Shia-dominated Iran has repeatedly voiced support for the protests in Bahrain and strongly condemned the deployment of Saudi-led forces.

The GCC was formed in 1981 as the Sunni-dominated monarchies of the Gulf aimed to bolster security after the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran that was followed by an eight-year war between Baghdad and Tehran.