Riyadh failed to rally anti-Iran support in Arab League summit: Iran

Tehran has slammed the Saudi regime for pushing ahead with its “divisive policies” in a recent Arab League summit, saying the outcome of the meeting showed Riyadh has failed to muster support against Iran.

“A statement issued separately by a four-way committee of the Arab League against our country on the sidelines of the recent summit in Mauritania shows the failure of the Saudis in building consensus,” said Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi on Thursday.

“Iran’s Foreign Ministry closely monitored all the developments in this summit, the documents that were issued as well as the actions of certain countries” during the Mauritania meeting, Qassemi added.

The latest Arab League summit opened in Mauritania’s capital, Nouakchott, on Friday, with only a handful of the 22-nation organization in attendance.

The forum is said to be the most poorly-attended summit of the Arab League, which is highly influenced by Saudi Arabia.

The lack of participation led to the meeting being cut to a single day, in what analysts say is proof of a growing rift among member states of the Cairo-based organization over regional issues.

However, reports say during the forum, the past initiatives, among them plans to establish a joint force to confront “Iran’s spreading power,” failed to gather steam.

The summit’s ending statement refused what it called “external interference in Arab affairs by Iran.”

Qassemi further warned the “few countries” that continue to back Saudi Arabia’s “divisive policies,” stressing that such support “would lead nowhere in the future, except that these countries will have a share in [Riyadh’s] responsibility for crimes such as child killings and terror support.”

The Iranian official further slammed the Saudi regime for forcing other states into supporting its hostile approach in Yemen, Syria and Bahrain.

Riyadh has betrayed the Arab world by openly forming an alliance with the Israeli regime, said the Iranian official, stressing that the poor participation in the recent summit was a result of such Saudi policies.

Al Saud’s destructive Mideast role

Under the new Saudi rulers, Riyadh has adopted an aggressive policy toward Iran and its allies, which are helping Syria and Iraq in their fight against terrorism.

Riyadh cut diplomatic ties with Iran in January. Under Saudi pressure, some of the kingdom’s allies, including Bahrain, also followed its lead and severed relations with Iran.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia is widely known as a staunch supporter of the terror groups operating in Syria.

The clerics in the kingdom freely preach Wahhabisim, the ideological engine of terror organizations like the Daesh terrorist group and al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front, which are wreaking havoc in Syria and Iraq.

Since last March, Riyadh, backed by a number of its allies, is also engaged in a military campaign which has claimed over 10,000 civilians in neighboring Yemen.

The Bahraini regime has also enjoyed Saudi support in its heavy-handed crackdown against opposition and political dissent.

This is while Saudi Arabia has come under fire for a growing link with Tel Aviv, which has come to light in recent months.  

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