UAE, Saudi back US’s Iran strategy

abu dhabi — The United Arab Emirates strongly supports President Trump’s new strategy to address the full range of Iran’s destructive actions.

In a statement released on Saturday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation said: “For too long, the Iranian regime has spread destruction and chaos throughout the region and beyond. The nuclear deal – the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – offered Iran an opportunity to engage responsibly with the international community. Instead, it only emboldened Iran to intensify its provocative and destabilising behavior.”

Importantly, the new US strategy takes necessary steps to confront Iran’s malign behaviour in all its forms — including its growing ballistic missile programme, support for terrorist organisations like Hezbollah and the Houthis, cyber attacks, interference in its neighbors’ domestic affairs, and threats to the freedom of navigation.

The Treasury Department’s designation of the International Revolutionary Guard Corps is a strong measure that will help limit Iran’s dangerous activities as the world’s leading state-sponsor of terrorism.

Meanwhile, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has welcomed and expressed its support for the resolute strategy announced by Donald Trump towards Iran and its aggressive approach while praising his vision in this and commitment to work with the allies of the US in the region, to face their common challenges, particularly Iran’s aggressive policies and actions.

According to the Saudi Press Agency, Saudi Arabia has previously supported the nuclear agreement between Iran in the belief that it is necessary to limit the regional and international proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, its statement stressed, adding that it had hoped that the agreement would prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, to achieve security and peace in the region.

However, Iran had exploited the economic benefits of the lifting of the sanctions and used them to continue destabilising the region, especially through its ballistic missile development programme and its support for terrorism, including Hezbollah and the Houthi militias in Yemen, the statement pointed out. — Wam