In a letter to the United Nations secretary general, Iran’s permanent representative has accused Saudi Arabia of having a hand in the June 7 terrorist attacks against Iran’s parliament and the late Ayatollah Khomeini’s mausoleum.
“The terrorist attacks in Tehran took place on the heel of the rejection on May 2, 2017, of any dialogue with Iran by the Saudi defense minister and his utter threat, emphasizing that ‘we will work so that the battle is on their side, inside Iran,’ ” Ambassador Gholamali Khoshroo said in his June 8 letter to Antonio Guterres.
“It is not surprising either that the Saudi minister of foreign affairs had threatened Iran a few hours before the attacks, saying that ‘Iran must be punished,’ ” he continued.
Khoshroo implicitly called Saudi Arabia the main source of radical ideology that inspired the creation of extremist groups including the so-called Islamic State and Al-Qaeda.
“It was very unfortunate that those who have always been at the origin of this radical ideology recently received encouragement and a green light, cemented by the conclusion of a historically unprecedented arms deal,” he wrote. “It is not a coincidence that thereafter the situation in our region is deteriorating, progressing from bad to worse, i.e. gaps among countries widening, terrorist activities multiplying, and domestic suppressions intensifying.”
Iran’s permanent representative to UN appeared to be referring to U.S. President Donald Trump’s May 20 visit to Riyadh, where he signed a $110 billion arms deal with his Saudi hosts.
Earlier, on his Twitter account, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also accused “America’s clients” of supporting the twin terrorist attacks in Tehran.
Furthermore, Khoshroo refers to his previous letter of May 4. “I had warned against the irresponsible, provocative and ill-fated policies of Saudi Arabia in promoting and financing extremist groups and its short-sighted and self-defeating adventurism in the region, in clear violation of the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter,” he wrote.
On May 2, two days prior to that letter, in an interview with MBC, Saudi Arabia’s powerful defense minister and deputy crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, 31, ruled out any rapprochement with Riyadh’s archrival, Iran.
“How do you have a dialogue with a regime built on extremist ideology, [saying] they [Iranians] must control the land of Muslims and propagate their Twelver Ja’fari sect in the Muslim world?”
Although IS has branded Saudi leaders as its “enemy,” several Iranian MPs and conservative media have accused Riyadh of having a hand in the terrorist attacks against Tehran.
In his June 9 speech, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also accused the United States and Saudi Arabia of having a hand in the Tehran attacks.
