Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister is urging Muslim nations to confront recent attacks in the region that the US and its allies have blamed on Iran with “all means of force and firmness.”
Ibrahim al-Assaf makes the comments at a meeting of foreign ministers of the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation ahead of a series of summits in the kingdom beginning earlier today.
Al-Assaf says the alleged sabotage of boats off the coast of the United Arab Emirates and a drone attack on a Saudi oil pipeline by Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels requires the region to “make more efforts to counter the terrorist acts of extremist and terrorist groups.”
Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Ibrahim Al-Assaf (R) and The Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Dr Yousef Al-Othaimeen (C) chat before a family photo during a meeting of Islamic and Arab Foreign Ministers in Jeddah on May 30, 2019 (BANDAR ALDANDANI / AFP)
“We should confront it with all means of force and firmness,” al-Assaf says.
Iran has denied being involved in the attacks, which come amid heightened tensions between Tehran and the US An Iranian official was at the meeting where al-Assaf is speaking, but Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif did not attend.
The US has accused Tehran of being behind the string of incidents this month, which also included a rocket strike near the US Embassy in Baghdad.
— AP
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