A senior Saudi official has rattled off a series of accusations against Iran and said it was not deserving of respect as a state, amid heightened tensions between the two regional rivals.
The Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Adel al-Jubair, said this following an Islamic conference in the Saudi holy city of Mecca on Saturday
“The Islamic world rejects Iran’s behaviour and it is telling it that `enough is enough`.
“If you want to be a country, which is respected, then you have to adopt policies that will lead to respect from others.
“Killing of diplomats, bombing of embassies, planting terror cells in other countries, smuggling weapons and explosives to other countries is not a behaviour of a country.
“Also supporting terrorist militias, launching ballistic missiles on other cities, all this is not the behaviour of a country, which wants the respect of its neighbours,” he said.
Iran has rejected what it calls the “baseless claims” made by Riyadh and others in the region.
Along with Saudi Arabia, the U.S. has also been increasing its pressure on Iran since the arrival of Donald Trump in the White House in 2017.
Al-Jubair’s remarks came hours after Saudi King Salman condemned recent attacks on commercial vessels in the Gulf, blamed on Iran.
The U.S. says it will present evidence of Iranian involvement next week.
Explosives-laden drones last month attacked Saudi oil facilities, assaults claimed by Yemen’s Iran-linked rebels.
Saudi Arabia this week hosted three Gulf, Arab League and Islamic organisation summits, which were overshadowed by tensions over Iran.
Riyadh and Tehran are on opposite sides of wars in Syria and Yemen.
dpa/NAN
