Deputy Foreign Minister of Iran wants de escalation
Date
1/25/2016 12:19:34 PM
(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) On January 25 2016 Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi stated that Iran and Saudi Arabia should take every step to de-escalate the tension between them according to Reuters.
In remarks given at an aviation conference in Tehran Araqchi was quoted as saying “We are prepared to consider any initiative which can help this region become more stable and of course safer so we can combat the real challenge and the real threat in the region which is terrorism extremism and of course sectarianism which is a big threat to all of us in the region.”
Araqchi went on to mention the importance of fighting “extremist terrorist elements” pointing out that “there is no way but to fight with these terrorist elements now in Syria in Iraq in Yemen and in other places in the region.”
Riyadh has accused Tehran of supporting Shi'ite militias in Iraq Syria Lebanon and Yemen in order to expand its domain in the region thus constituting a threat to Saudi Arabian security.
In the beginning of 2016 tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran saw a marked increase due to the former’s execution of Shi'ite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.
After the execution many countries in the Middle East have taken sides along sectarian lines. For example Kuwait with a majority Sunni population supported Saudi Arabia’s actions while Iran harshly condemned them.
Iranians’ mass protests against Saudi Arabia have caused serious problems as witnessed in protesters’ attacks on Saudi Arabian diplomatic posts.
On the same day of the Iranian protests in a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that was obtained Friday by The Associated Press Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif stated that Iran had “no desire or interest in escalation of tension in our neighborhood” and hoped Saudi Arabia would “heed the cause of reason.”
According to USAK experts O. Bahadr Dinçer and Mehmet Yegin the outbreak of the recent crisis was not simply the result of a killing of a religious leader as certain problems between the two had long been observable.
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