The correct statement is that Iran was a founding member of OPEC, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, established in Baghdad in September 1960 by five original members: Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. This alliance was formed to coordinate petroleum policies and secure fair, stable prices for oil-producing nations, and Iran, as one of the world's largest crude oil reserve holders, played a central founding role alongside these other states. The first distractor, that Iran is a member of the Arab League, is factually incorrect; the Arab League is an organisation of Arab states united by shared Arabic language and Arab identity, and Iran, whose population is predominantly Persian rather than Arab, has never been a member. The second distractor, that Iran's official language is Arabic, is likewise false; Iran's official and most widely spoken language is Persian (Farsi), a language from the Indo-Iranian branch entirely distinct from the Semitic language family that Arabic belongs to, though Arabic is taught and understood by some Iranians due to religious and historical contact. The third distractor, that Iran was a founding member of the GCC, the Gulf Cooperation Council, is also incorrect; the GCC was established in 1981 exclusively among six Arab Gulf monarchies, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman, specifically as a bloc of Arab states, and Iran has never been invited to join given its non-Arab identity and at times strained regional relations with Gulf Arab states. A very common exam confusion is conflating 'Middle Eastern' with 'Arab', since Iran, Turkey and Israel are all prominent non-Arab Middle Eastern nations despite the region's Arab-majority reputation.