Saudi information minister: Iran is ‘godfather’ of terrorism around the world

The Saudi Minister of Culture and Information Awwad al-Awwad has expressed the kingdom’s support of Egypt against the terrorists behind the el-Arish mosque massacre.

The death toll in the Friday militant attack rose to 305 including 27 children, while at least 128 people were injured in the attack.

Awwad stressed that Egypt will remain resistant to attempts aiming to harm security and stability. He also said that fighting terrorism needs to be a joint effort and across different tracks including media-combat to terrorist discourse.

The Saudi minister made his statements during a meeting on Tuesday for the Executive Office of Arab Ministers in Cairo.

In his speech at the meeting, Awwad said: “Islam’s dialect has moved from individuals to countries and leading it is Iran. The Iranian regime is the first supporter, the founder and the spiritual father to terrorism.”

“The Iranian regime has transformed terrorism from an individual act and developed it to become an institutional one supported militarily, financially and has the support of the media,” he added.

Awwad also said that the aim behind Iranian practices in the region is to have political authority over Arab countries.

The minister also called for the need to prevent sponsorship of terrorist groups, manufacturing their symbols and portraying them as civic groups demanding social and political rights.

He stressed that “we must be united to stop the attempts of some media platforms calling for hatred and extremism and support terrorism.”