Saudi King Salman urges world to take ‘decisive stance’ against Iran
riyadh — The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia, urged the world on Thursday to take “a decisive stance” to address efforts by Iran to develop nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, in an annual address to the top government advisory body.
“The kingdom stresses the dangers of Iran’s regional project, its interference in other countries, its fostering of terrorism, its fanning the flames of sectarianism and calls for a decisive stance from the international community against Iran that guarantees a drastic handling of its efforts to obtain weapons of mass destruction and develop its ballistic missiles programme,” the king said.
Riyadh appears wary of US President-elect Joe Biden‘s pledge to revive a 2015 nuclear pact between major powers and Iran, a landmark deal that was negotiated when he served as vice-president under Barack Obama.
The agreement was abandoned by President Donald Trump, a close ally of Saudi rulers.
State news agency SPA published a full transcript of the king’s speech after midnight. State TV carried photos of what appeared to be the king virtually addressing council members from his palace in Neom.
In Yemen, where Saudi Arabia leads a military coalition battling the Iran-aligned Houthis in a nearly six year war, King Salman said the kingdom continues to support UN-led efforts to reach a political settlement.
He also condemned the Iranaligned Houthi movement’s “deliberate and methodological” targeting of civilians inside Saudi Arabia via drones and ballistic missiles.
Riyadh was working to guarantee the stability of global oil supplies to serve both producers and consumers, despite Covid-19’s impact on oil markets, the king said.
He repeated his long-standing support for a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict, but did not refer to the US-brokered agreements signed between the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan to normalise ties with Israel. The king spoke days before the Group of 20 summit, which Saudi Arabia is hosting virtually this year.