Iran: Saudi's comments ‘destructive’, add to tensions

Iran today accused Saudi Arabia of seeking tension in the region, saying the Saudi deputy crown prince had made “destructive” comments by ruling out dialogue with Tehran.

Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, who is also Saudi defence minister, said in unusually blunt remarks yesterday that he would protect his kingdom from what he called Iranian efforts to dominate the Muslim world.

These comments are proof that Saudi Arabia supports terrorism and seeks confrontational and destructive policies in the region and towards Iran

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi was quoted as saying by state media.

Read: Saudi prince: ‘No dialogue with extremist Iran’

He said such remarks, in the most optimistic of scenarios, showed Saudis lacked a correct understanding of regional issues.

“While Western Asia is filled with tension and needs cooperation and understanding among countries, making such comments is a strategic mistake and lacks political sensibility,” Qasemi said.

Relations between the two regional powers worsened after hundreds of people, many of them Iranians, died in a crush at the annual hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia in 2015.

No Iranian pilgrims attended the haj in 2016, but Tehran reached an agreement with Riyadh in March to resume Iranian participation in the annual pilgrimage this year.