Iran Focus
London, 19 Sep – Saudi Arabia will not improve diplomatic relation with Iran until they stop supporting terrorism and the dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, according to the Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia.
Adel Al-Jubeir criticized the Iranian regime for its support of terrorism groups in an article published on Monday in The Wall Street Journal.
He stated that the Iranian Foreign Minister, Javad Zarif’s, pledge to fight extremism was “insincere propaganda”.
Al-Jubeir said: “Iran is the leading state-sponsor of terrorism, with government officials directly responsible for numerous terrorist attacks since 1979. These include suicide bombings of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut and the Marine barracks at Beirut International Airport; the bombing of Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia in 1996; attacks against more than a dozen embassies in Iran, including those of Britain, the U.S. and Saudi Arabia; and the assassination of diplomats around the world, to name a few examples.”
He notes that Iran has offered sanctuary to al Qaeda leaders including Osama bin Laden’s son, Saad, and al Qaeda’s chief of operations, Saif al-Adel, funds terrorist organizations like Hezbollah and produces IEDs which kill U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Other countries which are predominantly Muslim have disavowed Iran’s behavior; leading the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to formally reject Iran’s policies of sectarianism.
Al-Jubeir states that Saudi Arabia was at the forefront of this movement, pledging over $100 million to create a global center for counterterrorism at the United Nations, foiling attacks on the US, even though this risked their leaders’ lives.
He said: “The kingdom’s record is clear, and attested to by our allies and the international community. Iran’s record is one of death and destruction, as the situation in Syria and parts of Iraq clearly attests. Words will not change that; concrete action will.”
