Saudi Arabia’s FM responds to Zarif on Iran’s record

Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir has responded to his Iranian counterpart saying that Tehran “cannot whitewash its record on terror,” in an op-ed published by the Wall Street Journal.

His comments published on Sunday came as a response to a Sept. 13 New York Times op-ed written by Mohammad Javad Zarif.

“The fact is that Iran is the leading state-sponsor of terrorism, with government officials directly responsible for numerous terrorist attacks since 1979… Nor can one 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,” Jubeir wrote.

Jubeir went further and added that if Iran was ready to demonstrate sincerity in contributing to the global war on terrorism then “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,” the Saudi foreign minister added.