JEDDAH: Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir has come out strongly against Iranian leadership and said the country’s ideology of Khomeinism was responsible for spawning and empowering extremism.
In a hard-hitting piece in The Wall Street Journal on Monday, he said that Saudi Arabia welcomes better relations with Tehran, but the latter needs to stop supporting terrorism.
“The fact is that Iran is a leading state that supports terrorism, with senior government officials directly involved in a number of terrorist attacks since 1979, including the suicide bombing of the US Embassy in Beirut and the bombing of Alkhobar Towers in 1996,” he wrote.
“One cannot get around the fact that Iran uses terrorism to advance its aggressive policies. Iran cannot talk about fighting extremism while its leaders, Quds Force and Revolutionary Guard continue to fund, train, arm and facilitate acts of terrorism,” he said.
“If Iran wants to demonstrate sincerity in contributing to the global war on terrorism, it could have begun by handing over Al-Qaeda leaders who have enjoyed sanctuary in Iran.
These have included Osama bin Laden’s son, Saad, and Al-Qaeda’s chief of operations, Saif Al-Adel, along with numerous other operatives guilty of attacks against Saudi Arabia, the US and other targets. It is a fact that Saif Al-Adel placed a call from Iran in May 2003 giving orders for the Riyadh bombings that claimed more than 30 lives, including eight Americans.
“Yet he still benefits from Iranian protection,” said Al-Jubeir.
“Iran could also stop funding terrorist organizations, including Hezbollah, whose secretary-general recently boasted that his organization gets 100 percent of its funding from Iran. Iran could stop producing and distributing improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, which have killed or injured thousands of US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. And Iran could halt supplying weapons to terrorists and sectarian militias in the region who seek to replace legitimate governments with Iranian puppets,” he wrote.
“In Syria,” he said, “the blood of the more than 500,000 people slaughtered by the regime of Bashar Assad stains the hands of Iran, which sent forces — both regular troops and nonstate actors — to prop up the Syrian regime. Iranian leaders have said publicly that if not for their efforts, Assad would have fallen from power.”
He said: “Iranian officials sometimes lament sectarian strife and violence. But here again, the facts are stubborn. The region and the world were at peace with Iran until the Ayatollah Khomeini’s 1979 Islamic revolution, whose principal slogan remains, ‘Death to America!’ Mullahs seized power and vowed — as written in their constitution — to export the revolution and spread their ideology through religious and sectarian conflict.”
“To export the revolution, Iran set up so-called Cultural Centers of the Revolutionary Guard in many countries, including Sudan, Nigeria, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and the Comoros Islands. The aim was to spread their ideology through propaganda and violence. Iran went so far as to propagate that the Shiite Muslims living outside Iran belong to Iran and not the countries of which they are citizens. This is unacceptable interference in other countries and should be rejected by all nations,” wrote Al-Jubeir.
“It is this ideology of ‘Khomeinism’ — driven by an appetite for expansion, fueled by anti-Western hatred and motivated by sectarianism — that has energized and empowered extremism. Only by ridding the world of this toxic and radical mind-set can sectarianism be contained, terrorism defeated and calm restored to the region. If Iran is serious about combating extremism, then it should refrain from policies and actions that give rise to extremism,” he said.
“Saudi Arabia is a leader in the war against terrorism,” said Al-Jubeir. “My country brought the world together for an international conference in 2005 to align nations in the fight against terrorism. The Kingdom contributed more than $100 million to create a global center for counterterrorism at the United Nations and established a 40-member Islamic Military Coalition to combat terrorism and extremism. It also is a member of the US-led Global Coalition to Counter Daesh and is part of the coalition’s continuing military operations.”
He said Iran’s record is one of death and destruction, as the situation in Syria and parts of Iraq clearly attests. “Words will not change that; concrete action will,” said Al-Jubeir.
“Saudi Arabia’s position has remained constant with regard to Iran. The Kingdom would welcome better relations with Iran, based on the principles of good neighborliness and noninterference in the affairs of others. That means Iran has to abandon its subversive and hostile activities and stop its support for terrorism. Thus far, Iran’s record has not been encouraging.”
Khomeinism empowered extremism, says Al-Jubeir
Khomeinism empowered extremism, says Al-Jubeir
