Iran dismisses Saudi minister’s claims
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi strongly rejected the allegations made by the Saudi foreign minister against Iran as “baseless”.
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-jubeir has claimed that Iran supports terrorism and destabilizes the region. In another allegation, he said that Iran must give up meddling in the affairs of other countries to become a constructive member of the international community, IRNA reported.
The Iranian spokesperson said whenever Saudi officials feel under pressure from world public opinion for their military aggression on Yemen and their support for terrorism they move to level preposterous and hackneyed allegations against Tehran.
Surprisingly, Riyadh, which has a long record in spreading of terrorism, violence and aggression, is shamelessly and delusively setting conditions for Iran’s active presence in the international community, he said.
“Threatening and the employment of military force and language of bullying against small neighboring countries, the undeniable war crimes dossier in Yemen and the promotion of Takfiri extremism and terrorism have been among the obvious traits of Saudi foreign policy in recent years,” Qassemi said on Saturday, Press TV reported.
In order to cover up its record, Saudi Arabia has no option but to put the blame on others, distract public opinion and spend huge sums of money; however, such methods would fail, he added.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in an interview with Al Jazeera on Saturday slammed Saudi Arabia’s support for terrorist groups in Syria and its aggression on Yemen, as well as its treatment of Qatar.
“We believe the posture in the Persian Gulf by Saudi Arabia is not a positive one, (like) the policies they pursue against Qatar,” Zarif said, adding that Saudi Arabia was using claims of Iranian expansionism to justify its own attempts to exert influence in the region.
“The concepts they are using to muddy the waters, policies that have brought unfortunate disastrous consequences for our region, cannot be justified by these smokescreens of exporting revolutions,” he added.
Saudi Arabia has been incessantly pounding Yemen since March 2015 in an attempt to crush the popular Houthi movement and reinstate former president Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, who is a staunch ally of the Riyadh regime.
More than 12,000 people have been killed since the onset of the campaign more than two and a half years ago. Much of the Arabian Peninsula country’s infrastructure, including hospitals, schools and factories, has been reduced to rubble due to the war.
The US and Saudi Arabia, along with a number of their regional allies, stand accused of providing weapons and financial backing to various terrorist groups wreaking havoc in countries like Syria and Iraq.