Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has proclaimed that escalation tensions with Saudi Arabia are because of Saudi’s regional failures and domestic troubles.
Rouhani said in a televised interview on Tuesday, “Saudi Arabia is trying to solve two problems, this is why it introduces Iran as its enemy.”
He claimed that Riyadh has failed with its approach to Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon, and also in its cutting of relations and blockade of Gulf neighbor Qatar.
Riyadh’s second problem was “internal differences and chaos in the kingdom”, Rouhani said.
Saudi Arabia broke relations with Iran in January 2016, following Riyadh’s execution of a prominent Shia cleric and a crowd attack on the Saudi Embassy in Tehran. The kingdom and Iran have been on opposite sides of the civil wars in Syria and Yemen and are vying for influence in Iraq after the defeat of the Islamic State.
Iran is now facing a firmer line from other countries lining up with Saudi Arabia, including the US, Israel, and France. Earlier this month, Tehran’s strategy to detach European countries from Washington was jeopardized when French President Emmanuel Macron, speaking from Riyadh, demanded negotiations over Iran’s ballistic missile program.
