Tabnak – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has travelled to Norway to attend the annual meeting of Oslo Forum. In his remarks in the meeting, Zarif slammed Saudi Arabia’s threats against Iran’s national security. He also criticized US "wrong policy” toward Iran.
Iranian news outlet Press TV reports that Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says Iran has obtained intelligence showing that Saudi Arabia is "actively” propping up terrorist groups along Iranian eastern and western borders.
Speaking at the opening of the Oslo Forum in Norway, Zarif referred to recent remarks by Saudi officials that foreshadowed the recent terrorist attacks in the Iranian capital, Tehran, and called those remarks a "direct threat and very dangerous provocation” by Riyadh.
Zarif said Iran is "alert,” adding, "We have intelligence that Saudi Arabia is actively engaged in promoting terrorist groups” operating near both the eastern and western borders of Iran.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Zarif said the United States under President Donald Trump was turning a blind eye to Saudi Arabia’s role in the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the US, which killed some 3,000 people, and other attacks elsewhere in the West.
Zarif said in figurative remarks that Trump was seeking to change the nationality of the 15 Saudi assailants or every other bomber who has attacked the US or Western countries over the past 20 years postmortem. The US is "trying to change... history,” he said.
Tasnim News Agency writes in a separate report that speaking to reporters upon his arrival in Norway for the Oslo Forum, Mohammad Javad Zarif slammed the US Senate move as a testimony of US officials’ shortsightedness.
Such behavior demonstrates the wrong policy that the US government has adopted toward Iran, particularly following the recent presidential election in the Islamic Republic, he added.
On June 7, the US Senate voted to advance a bill that would impose new sanctions on Iran. The vote was 92-7 on a procedural motion to end debate on the Iran sanctions bill, clearing the way for a vote later on passage of the legislation.
Earlier on Monday, Zarif met and held talks with the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, on a range of issues, including the 2015 multilateral nuclear deal with Iran.
Zarif and Mogherini exchanged views on international and regional issues as well as the nuclear accord, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), in the Norwegian capital, Oslo, on Monday.
The Iranian foreign minister has traveled to Norway to participate in the Oslo Forum, which gathers leading armed conflict mediation practitioners. On the sidelines, he is expected to hold more one-on-one meetings with participating dignitaries.
