Saudi regime facing crisis of identity, legitimacy: FM spokesman
The Saudi regime is currently facing a crisis of identity, legitimacy and efficiency, says Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hossein Jaberi Ansari.
Unlike the government of the Islamic Republic, which understands regional developments and adopts its policies accordingly, the regime in Riyadh is battling those developments and that is the reason why Saudi Arabia is faced with crisis, the Iranian official said in a televised interview Saturday night.
Riyadh pursues a policy of creating tension and crisis, the Iranian Foreign Ministry official noted, adding, “We have no need to create tension and we seek stability and our political literature is oriented in that direction.”
Relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia have been strained in recent days following Riyadh’s announcement of the execution of prominent Shia cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, on January 2.
Nimr’s execution was widely censured by Muslims and human rights activists around the globe as well as several governments.
Jaberi Ansari also pointed to Riyadh’s move to close its embassy in Tehran and said Saudi Arabia will not win “the war of embassies” and it has to accept realities sooner or later.
Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic relations with Iran on January 3 following demonstrations held in front of the Saudi embassy in Tehran and its consulate in the northeastern city of Mashhad by angry protesters censuring the Al Saud family for the killing of Sheikh Nimr.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman also praised positive stances and goodwill gestures of Islamic and non-Islamic countries vis-à-vis the recent developments in Tehran-Riyadh relations.
“We explicitly announce that Iran’s policy is not [based on] the intensification of tensions among neighbors and Muslim countries,” he said.
Following Saudi Arabia’s severance of ties with Iran, there have been several offers for mediation between the two countries including from Russia, Iraq, Indonesia and Pakistan.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said earlier on Saturday that the Islamic Republic has so far exercised patience with regard to negative measures adopted by Saudi Arabia.
“We have so far responded to negative Saudi measures with patience because there is a distance between Iranian wisdom and Saudi officials’ misguided and immature approaches,” Zarif said, emphasizing that Iran does not seek tension in the region.
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