NEW YORK/DUBAI • Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud took aim at Iran during his debut at the annual United Nations meeting of world leaders this week, calling for a united front to contain Riyadh's rival and stop it from getting weapons of mass destruction.
He said Iran exploited a 2015 nuclear deal with world powers "to intensify its expansionist activities, create its terrorist networks, and use terrorism", adding that this had produced nothing but "chaos, extremism, and sectarianism".
"A comprehensive solution and a firm international position are required," the Saudi King, 84, told the 193-member General Assembly in a pre-recorded video statement played on Wednesday.
The United States, a strong ally of Saudi Arabia, quit the Iran nuclear pact in 2018, with US President Donald Trump calling it the "worst deal ever".
Washington has since imposed unilateral sanctions on Teheran and asserts that all countries also should reinstate UN sanctions to try to push the Islamic republic to negotiate a new deal.
French President Emmanuel Macron told the world body on Tuesday that Washington's sanctions campaign against Iran had failed.
All remaining parties to the nuclear deal, including long-time US allies, and 13 of the 15 UN Security Council members say the US claim on UN sanctions is void. Diplomats say few countries are likely to reimpose the measures.
"Our experience with the Iranian regime has taught us that partial solutions and appeasement did not stop its threats to international peace and security," King Salman said.
Iran's UN mission spokesman Alireza Miryousefi rejected what he called "the baseless allegations".
"The unconstructive and unwarranted statement by the Saudi leader only emboldens certain powers who are intent on sowing discord among regional countries with the aim of creating permanent division and selling more deadly weapons to the region," he said in an apparent swipe at the US.
Sunni Muslim-majority Saudi Arabia and Shi'ite-dominated Iran are locked in several proxy wars in the region, including in Yemen where a Saudi-led coalition has been battling the Teheran-aligned Houthi movement over five years.
Riyadh has blamed Iran for attacks on the kingdom's oil facilities last year, a charge that Teheran denies. Iran denies arming groups in the Middle East, including the Houthis, and blames regional tensions on the US and its Gulf allies.
Mr Trump made only a passing reference to Iran during his UN address on Tuesday, focusing instead on attacking China.
Iran's President Hassan Rouhani told the General Assembly on Tuesday that Washington could impose "neither negotiations nor war" on his country.
All UN statements are pre-recorded videos due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Gulf Arab states have also been alarmed by the rising influence of Iran's ally Hizbollah in Lebanon.
King Salman said a deadly blast in Beirut's port last month "occurred as a result of the hegemony of Hizbollah... over the decision-making process in Lebanon".
The authorities have blamed the blast on a stockpile of ammonium nitrate unsafely stored at the port.
"This terrorist organisation must be disarmed," the King said.
On attempts to mediate peace between Israel and Palestine, the Saudi monarch said a 2002 Arab Peace Initiative is the basis for a "comprehensive and just solution" ensuring that the Palestinians obtain an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
"We support the efforts of the current US administration to achieve peace in the Middle East by bringing the Palestinians and the Israelis to the negotiation table to reach a fair and comprehensive agreement," he said.
Saudi Arabia drew up the 2002 initiative by which Arab nations offered to normalise ties with Israel in return for a statehood deal with the Palestinians and full Israeli withdrawal from territory captured in 1967.
The King stopped short of endorsing recent US-brokered agreements by the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain to establish ties with Israel - a strategic realignment of Middle East countries against Iran. Saudi Arabia has quietly acquiesced to the deals but has signalled that it is not ready to take action itself.
Palestinian leaders have condemned the UAE and Bahrain's warming of relations with Israel, describing it as a betrayal of their efforts to win statehood in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.
REUTERS
