+ A
A -
AFP
Riyadh
A senior Saudi minister on Tuesday lashed out at Iran’s foreign minister for implying Riyadh played a role in the assassination of leading nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.
Fakhrizadeh was killed on Friday after his car and bodyguards were targeted in a bomb and gun attack on a major road outside the capital Tehran, heightening tensions between Iran and its foes.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Monday said on Instagram that a covert meeting in Saudi Arabia between Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu contributed to the assassination, alleging it was a “conspiracy”.
“Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif is desperate to blame the kingdom for anything negative that happens in Iran,” Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudi minister of state for foreign affairs, wrote on Twitter. “Will he blame us for the next earthquake or flood?”
“It is not the policy of Saudi Arabia to engage in assassinations,” he added.
Unlike other Gulf states, Saudi Arabia -- a Sunni powerhouse locked in a decades-old rivalry with Shiite power Iran -- has not formally condemned the assassination. Last month, Netanyahu held landmark talks in Saudi Arabia with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, according to Israeli media reports and an Israeli government source.
Riyadh
A senior Saudi minister on Tuesday lashed out at Iran’s foreign minister for implying Riyadh played a role in the assassination of leading nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.
Fakhrizadeh was killed on Friday after his car and bodyguards were targeted in a bomb and gun attack on a major road outside the capital Tehran, heightening tensions between Iran and its foes.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Monday said on Instagram that a covert meeting in Saudi Arabia between Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu contributed to the assassination, alleging it was a “conspiracy”.
“Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif is desperate to blame the kingdom for anything negative that happens in Iran,” Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudi minister of state for foreign affairs, wrote on Twitter. “Will he blame us for the next earthquake or flood?”
“It is not the policy of Saudi Arabia to engage in assassinations,” he added.
Unlike other Gulf states, Saudi Arabia -- a Sunni powerhouse locked in a decades-old rivalry with Shiite power Iran -- has not formally condemned the assassination. Last month, Netanyahu held landmark talks in Saudi Arabia with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, according to Israeli media reports and an Israeli government source.
