News / Interviews

Execution of Nimr, horrible murder: Analyst

Tuesday, 12 January 2016 5:04 AM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 12 January 2016 5:05 AM ]

A picture provided by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) on December 28, 2015 shows Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz heading a Council of Ministers meeting in the Saudi capital, Riyadh. (Via AFP)

Press TV has conducted an interview with Scott Rickard, a former American intelligence linguist, and Jihad Mouracadeh, a political analyst, to discuss Saudi Arabia’s anti-Iran rhetoric.

Rickard says the Iranian government has done all-out efforts to track down and hold accountable the perpetrators of attacks on the Saudi embassy in Tehran and consulate in Mashhad; however, he says, “This is not the first time that these kinds of things have happened, obviously other embassies around the world are attacked when atrocities are committed.”

He describes the execution of prominent cleric Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr by the Saudi regime as a “horrible murder of an innocent leader,” which caused protests against Al Saud not only in Iran but also in other parts of the world.

The former intelligence linguist also says that the root cause of Iranians’ anger is Saudi Arabia’s foreign policy in the Middle East, which has been based on supporting extremism in the region.

Pointing to the United States’ stance toward Saudi provocations in the Middle East, Rickard says “The United States needs to check itself and look at who they are partner” with, because Saudi Arabia and some other Persian Gulf allies of Washington are creating and financing terrorist groups in the region.

Mouracadeh, for his part, says Saudi Arabia will not be ignoring recent incidents in Iran, because both countries have had differences on regional issues such as Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

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