Mattis anti-Iran claims reciprocation of Saudi extravagance: Qassemi
Iran says the recent claims made by US Defense Secretary James Mattis against the Islamic Republic were reciprocation for Saudi Arabia’s profligacy during President Donald Trump’s visit to Riyadh.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi on Tuesday rejected the US defense secretary’s allegations that an alleged plot by Iranians to kill the former Saudi ambassador to Washington, Adel al-Jubeir, was an “operation approved at the highest level.”
“The aforementioned accusations by US defense secretary about the [failed] assassination of an Arab ambassador in Washington by Iran are a fabricated and unfounded scenario,” Qassemi said, adding, “US divisive policies vis-à-vis Muslim countries are among this country’s strategic objectives with the purpose of creating fabricated and fake threats to plunder the assets of the regional people.”
He said some warmongering officials in the US and Saudi Arabia, as its ally in the Persian Gulf region, are pursuing such a false scenario, adding that the Islamic Republic paid no heed to such “baseless” accusations.
It was not surprising that Mattis made such allegations only a few days after the US president’s trip to Riyadh, because leveling groundless claims was an option for Washington to make up for Saudis’ generosity, Qassemi added.
On his first overseas trip since taking office, President Trump attended a signing ceremony on May 20 for almost $110 billion worth of military equipment to support Saudi Arabia's military.
The Iranian spokesperson emphasized that Washington’s double standard-driven approach to terrorism poses a serious threat to stability and security across the world, particularly in the Middle East region.
He warned that the continuation of such policies would damage the prospects of the international community’s success in fighting the “ominous and dangerous phenomenon of terrorism.”
In a televised interview with CBS’s Face the Nation this week, Mattis claimed that the Iranian officials “are not looking out for the best interests of their people.”
“You’ve got this revolutionary cause that then causes them to go around creating mischief everywhere else; including trying to murder an Arab ambassador fewer than two miles away from the White House a couple of years ago,” he claimed.
Jubeir, who now serves as the Saudi foreign minister, escaped a failed assassination attempt in 2011. Iran has vehemently denied any involvement in the alleged plot.
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