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AFP
Tehran
The yawning gap between Tehran and Washington has grown even wider with US President Donald Trump's latest efforts to isolate Iran, which accused the United States of"milking"Saudi Arabia for petro-dollars.
Trump's choice of Saudi Arabia, Iran's bitter regional rival, for his first official foreign visit reflects the deep antagonism of his administration towards the Islamic republic. The US president signed a giant list of deals, worth a total of $380 billion, including $110 billion for weapons that will invariably find their way into the numerous conflicts of the region -- including Syria, Yemen and Iraq -- where Riyadh and Tehran often find themselves on opposing sides.
Trump also vilified Iran as the greatest source of instability in the Middle East, though many observers noted the irony that his claims came on the same day that 41 million Iranians enthusiastically took part in elections, with a sizeable majority backing President Hassan Rouhani and his policy of engagement with the world.
Relations with the US and Iran have been under deep freeze since the Islamic revolution of 1979, which deposed the Washington-backed shah.
Trump's team is dedicated to reversing his predecessor's efforts at rapprochement with Iran, which saw a nuclear deal signed in 2015, lifting many sanctions.
"From Lebanon to Iraq to Yemen, Iran funds, arms and trains terrorists, militias and other extremist groups that spread destruction and chaos across the region,"Trump said in Riyadh on Sunday.
He called on all countries to work together to isolate Iran"until the Iranian regime is willing to be a partner for peace". Analysts fear tensions are growing out of control.
"Battlelines are being drawn and it's worrying, especially when it comes just a day after the election victory of Rouhani which showed a real dynamic in favour of democratisation and opening in Iranian society,"said Azadeh Kian of Sciences Po University in Paris. Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who spearheaded the nuclear negotiations, reacted sarcastically, comparing this weekend's elections in Iran to the lack of democracy in Saudi Arabia.
"Iran -- fresh from real elections -- attacked by @POTUS in that bastion of democracy and moderation,"Zarif tweeted, referring to the US president.
Is that a serious foreign policy, he asked, or is the US"simply milking"Saudi Arabia for billions of dollars?
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23/05/2017
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