After Trump Summit, UK Attack, Iran Officials Blast Global Terror Role of Saudi Arabia

Following the Manchester bombings and the Trump-Saudi summit in Riyadh, Iranian officials pointed out the main sponsor and exporter of global terrorism was the House of Al-Saud.

RELATED:
Hezbollah Leader Blasts Arab Silence on Palestinian Prisoners' Historic Hunger Strike

“We believe that the taproot and the ideological origin of terrorist incidents in Iran’s Mirjaveh and the U.K.’s Manchester is one and the same,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Bahram Qassemi said Tuesday, referring to an April 26 raid by Islamist militants that claimed 11 Iranian border guards' lives.

While Saudi Arabia used the occasion of a visit by U.S. President Donald Trump to open its so-called Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology in the monarchy's capital, many have derided the move as a laughable public relations stunt that won't distract attention from the well-known support the Al Saud dynasty has given to extremist forces throughout the globe.

However, the Saudis have referred to Iran as the so-called “tip of the spear of global terrorism,” an assessment that the Israelis and former reality television star-turned-head of state Donald Trump eagerly agree with.

"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 alleged during his visit to his Arabian Peninsula colleagues.

Traditional Wahhabi doctrine – the official religion in the Saudi kingdom – is ultra-conservative and highly sectarian, imposing a strict version of Islamic law and dubbing Shiites “apostate.” Riyadh has promoted the intolerant ideology as clergy fan militancy abroad. In many cases, Saudi citizens have participated in jihadist movements in Iraq and Syria while the Gulf monarchs have tacitly backed al-Qaida and other extremist factions amid its war on the people of Yemen.

“A serious, purposeful, and honest fight is needed with the unity and determination of all countries that are victimized by the extremist and Takfiri ideology of these groups,” Qassemi continued, according to Iranian state news outlet Press TV.

Speaking separately, the head of Iran's parliament, Ali Larijani, told an open session of the Iranian legislative body that Riyadh is doubtlessly behind the upsurge in global terrorist attacks.

“It is an evident historical point that Saudi Arabia, since its inception, has been engaged in war and terrorism,” he said, adding that the past 60 years have entailed the spread of Wahhabi ideology worldwide through a campaign of mosque-building and the spread of cultural centers worldwide that indoctrinate young Muslims.

The U.S. has long worked with the Saudis against common enemies in the Arab and Muslim world such as pan-Arab nationalists, communists and socialists, as well as supposedly “Iran-backed” political movements involving Shia actors.

Meanwhile, Iran's Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani made similar statements in Moscow Wednesday upon arriving for a three-day security conference on terrorism, according to the official Islamic Republic News Agency.

RELATED:
US and Saudi Arabia, the Imperial Alliance That Creates Terrorism, Vows to ‘Fight’ It

"Some countries with a bad record in supporting terrorism, spend petrodollars on turning the region into a depot for western weapons and spreading the seeds of insecurity and violence,” the secretary said.

"The Islamic Republic believes that arms depots will never buy security ... the security of countries hinges on the broader participation of the people in politics and shaping political structures," he added.

Re-elected Iranian President Hassan Rouhani likewise derided the ostensible “anti-terror” efforts of the U.S. and its Saudi ally Monday, calling the summit a "show-off" lacking any sort of “political or practical significance."

"The issue of terrorism cannot be solved by giving money to the superpowers," Rouhani said, underlining the fact that regional stability cannot be restored without Iran.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif likewise reacted to the summit in a sarcastic manner, tweeting Sunday that Trump's remarks were aimed at "milking" Saudi Arabia through weapons deals meant to funnel funds into the U.S. military-industrial complex.

"Iran — fresh from real elections — is attacked by (Trump) in that bastion of democracy and moderation," tweeted Zarif.