President Hassan Rouhani called on Saudi Arabia to cease its hostile policies against Tehran, warning against the ramifications of putting trust in the US and Israel.
Speaking in a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Rouhani reaffirmed Iran’s support for the development of regional countries, including Saudi Arabia.
“There is no other way than brotherhood, friendship and helping each other. You are mistaken if you think Iran is not your friend, but the US and Israel are. This mentality is a strategic mistake and miscalculation,” Press TV cited the president as saying.
“Our path in the region is to establish and promote stability. We want the geographic borders not to change, nations to decide for themselves, and bombardments and aggression against regional nations to stop.”
Referring to Iran’s influential role in the region, the president said, “You are well aware of the power and status of the Islamic Republic. Those more powerful than you have failed to do anything against the Iranian nation. The US and its lackeys mobilized all their equipment and power, but they could not do anything.”
Rouhani pointed to allegations about Iran’s interference in regional countries, adding that such claims are being made while Tehran has been fighting terrorism in Iraq and Syria at the request of those countries.
Pointed to the track record of the US and Israeli plots against regional countries, he said the hegemonic powers plunder the oil and wealth of the region and, in return, they sell them a variety of weapons to fan the flames of hostility.
Litany of Wrong Moves
Rouhani censured Saudi Arabia for waging a deadly war on its neighbor Yemen since March 2015.
“How should the Yemeni nation respond to bombardment on such a scale? They are told not to use their own weapons. Well, stop the bombing and see whether or not the Yemeni nation responds positively. You do not allow delivery of medicine, food and UN assistance to the Yemenis. Is what you are doing reasonable and Islamic?”
The president also slammed Riyadh’s hostility toward Iraq and Syria through proxy terrorist groups and said, “Why are you hostile toward the people of Syria and Iraq? Why did you create Daesh [an Arabic acronym for the self-styled Islamic State terror group] and unleashed it on the people of the region?”
Rouhani pointed to the surprise resignation of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri in Riyadh last week, calling it a result of Saudi interference.
“Why are you interfering in Lebanon’s affairs and government? We cannot find an instance throughout history where a country meddled in the affairs of another country by apparently forcing the head of that country to resign. This is unprecedented in the history of the region,” he said.
Hariri cited many reasons for his sudden resignation, including the security situation in Lebanon. He also said that he sensed a plot being hatched against his life and accused Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement of meddling in the Arab countries’ affairs, an allegation the two have repeatedly denied.
The surprise announcement has sparked a new political crisis in Lebanon, fueling speculations that the premier has been forced by Riyadh to announce his resignation.
