Iran:

Extremist ideologies promoted by Riyadh root of terrorism

Rasa - Iran has dismissed recent allegations by a Saudi military official against the Islamic Republic, saying the extremist ideologies cultivated by Saudi Arabia are the root cause of terrorism in the Middle East.

News ID: 428492

Date: 28 March 2017 - 22:17

RNA - Extremist ideologies developed in Saudi Arabia have led to the formation of various Takfiri terrorist groups, which are threatening people in the region and across the world, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi said on Tuesday.

He added that Takfiri terrorists and their regional and international supporters posed the real threat to the region, adding that the patrons were committing the most heinous crimes in the Middle East in the name of fighting terror.

Qassemi was responding to allegations by Brigadier General Ahmed al-Asiri, the spokesman for the Saudi military and the Riyadh-led coalition targeting Yemen. Asiri had accused Iran, without offering any evidence, of meddling in the region and openly smuggling weapons to militants and terrorist groups.

The Iranian spokesperson further said that Tehran had always made all-out efforts to promote convergence and collective movement among regional countries in a bid to establish stability in the region while Saudi Arabia’s lack of prudence in relying on the US government had led to instability.

“We had also previously announced that meddling by extra-regional countries throughout history has resulted in nothing but instability, rift and the spread of terrorism and violence and has never brought any benefit to regional nations,” Qassemi added.

On March 26, 2015, Saudi Arabia began airstrikes on different areas across Yemen, its southern neighbor, in an attempt to reinstall the former Yemeni government, which was a close ally of Riyadh.

The campaign, which also involves ground operations and a naval blockade, has so far left over 12,000 civilians dead, pushing the Arab world’s poorest country to the verge of famine.

Indiscriminate Saudi bombardments have taken a heavy toll on Yemeni infrastructure, including schools and hospitals, with prominent rights groups censuring Riyadh’s military for the use of internationally-banned weapons against Yemeni civilians.

As the war enters its third year, Saudi Arabia has failed to achieve its declared goals of war and seems without an exit strategy.

847/940