Iran’s Foreign Ministry has described Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as “delusional” and “naive” following remarks he made on a recent US TV show. Among his claims, the Saudi royal alleged Iran was harboring terrorists.
“Bin Salman’s claims on Iran hosting Al-Qaeda’s leaders is a big lie,” Bahram Qasemi said as cited by Al Masdar News. “They were arrested and extradited to their respective governments, according to their documents and nationalities, including a number of Bin Laden’s family members, that because of their Saudi nationalities, Riyadh was informed. Following the coordination, Bin Laden’s daughter was extradited to Saudi embassy in Tehran.”
Bin Salman is scheduled to meet with US President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and National Security Adviser HR McMaster. However, the Iranian Foreign Ministry sees the whole tour as a cynical exercise in self-promotion ahead of Bin Salman’s assumed ascension to the Saudi throne.
“Bin Salman in his visit to the US is heinously trying to pave the way for his coronation by any means, but it seems that pouring the hundreds of billions of dollars of the Saudi people into the arms industry of the US has not served the purpose, and he is now trying to purge the proved records of current rulers of Saudi Arabia on supporting terrorism and extremism,” Qasemi added. For context, the Saudis purchased $110 billion-worth of weaponry from the US in June 2017.
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Bin Salman was highly critical of the Iranian government when speaking with Norah O’Donnell of CBS News in an interview which aired last Thursday, accusing them of influencing people in Yemen. “The Iranian ideology penetrated some parts of Yemen. During that time, this militia was conducting military maneuvers right next to our borders and positioning missiles at our borders,” Bin Salman said.
“Iran is not a rival to Saudi Arabia. Its army is not among the top five armies in the Muslim world,” the royal added. “The Saudi economy is larger than the Iranian economy. Iran is far from being equal to Saudi Arabia.”
However, Qasemi responded harshly to the prince’s criticisms while also highlighting the success of the Iran nuclear deal. “His words are not worth responding to, because he is a delusional naive person who just tells bitter lies and nothing but inconsiderate remarks,” he replied.
“It is better for a country which has been brought to its knees after three years of committing war crimes against the besieged and defenseless Yemeni people not to talk about its army and economy and be happy with buying ‘beautiful’ weapons and the remain importer of security and be silent in the face of a powerful country like Iran,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry said as cited by The Tehran Times.
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