Jeddah -- Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir said on Sunday that sending Iranian Shiite armed units to Iraq to participate in military operations or undergo training is unacceptable.
"Iraq's problem is religious conflicts caused by the Iranian interference," Jubeir stressed, adding that Saudi Arabia insists on the withdrawal of Iranian troops from Iraq, saying that one of the Iranian senior officers is leading the operations in Iraq against Sunnies.
Earlier last week, Iraqi Defense Ministry published an official report which includes statements confirming that the Iraqi Hezbollah Brigades are involved in the battle of Fallujah.
A YouTube account linked to Kata’ib Hezbollah, a US-designated terrorist organization and Iranian proxy, has uploaded a video showing a large convoy of its rocket launcher systems being sent to the front lines near Iraqi city of Falluja.
Also, Qassem Soleimani, the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps-Qods Force – the external operations wing of the Revolutionary Guards – was spotted in a picture said to be taken near Falluja.
Al-Jubeir said Iran isolated itself by launching ballistic missiles and sending militias to many countries including Syria and Iraq. He said Iran’s interference in the internal affairs of the neighboring countries is rejected. It is being penalized today for supporting terrorism. It smuggled weapons into Bahrain and Yemen.
Al-Jubeir said Iran refused to sign the agreement organizing Haj (affairs) this year due to its demand for privileges that are beyond the sphere of organizing Haj. They had demands, including that the Iranians should be issued visas through the Internet. This was agreed on. They demanded transporting their pilgrims via the Iranian national carrier and that they should have a representative. The Kingdom approved this. This is evidence that the Kingdom is keen to facilitate Haj matters and enable them to perform their rites. Despite that, they refused to sign the agreement organizing Haj.
Iran’s goal was to procrastinate and maneuver. They wanted to prevent their pilgrims from performing the rites. This is extremely bad. Al-Jubeir said the Kingdom attaches great importance to the security of pilgrims. It does not prevent anyone from performing Haj or Umrah. The Kingdom reaches understanding with over 70 countries so as to coordinate and organize Haj and Umrah affairs.
Hammond said he was reassuring his Gulf counterparts that world powers are closely monitoring Iran in the wake of last year's nuclear deal which paved the way for a partial lifting of sanctions.
"Just because we've made an agreement with Iran on its nuclear programme does not mean that we will turn a blind eye to Iran's continuing attempts to destabilize the region or to its ballistic missiles programme which remains a serious threat to peace and which breaches UN resolutions," Hammond said.
Jubeir, said "We supported that agreement so long as we were assured that Iran will not be able to acquire a nuclear capability. "They are, after all, a neighbor and we will have to live with them. But it's difficult to live with a neighbour whose objective is to destroy you: that's why the relation with Iran is not what it should be."
“Iran should respect the principle of good neighborly relations, to focus on its internal situation and not intervene in the affairs of other countries in the region, mainly Iraq,” he said,
He added that Iran should deal with its domestic matters instead of interfering in internal affairs of other states in the region. -- Agencies
