AMERICAN PLANS TO TOPPLE SADDAM OPPOSED BY SAUDI ARABIA, IRAN
TEHRAN, 3 Aug. (IPS) Saudi Arabia Foreign Minister Prince Saud al Faysal
arrived in Tehran Saturday and in a joint press conference with his Iranian
host, expressed opposition to any US military action against Iraq, their common
neighbour.
"We have always opposed any attack against an Arab or Muslim country and that also means Iraq", the visiting Saudi Minister told reporters at Tehran’s Mehrabad Airport, where he was welcomed by Mr. Kamal Kharazi at the start of a one-day visit.
"That is Iran's position too", Kharazi said, adding: "As we have said on various occasions, we are opposed to any attack launched against a Muslim country", he emphasised, referring to plans by the Bush Administration to topple the Iraqi dictator.
Prince Faysal informed journalists that he was bringing a message from Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, for the Iranian President as part of the "continuing political consultations" between the two regional powers.
"This message deals with the Middle East situation and, in general terms, with the whole region", said the Saudi Minister, who later met with the embattled President Mohammad Khatami.
Diplomats said besides Iraq and also Afghanistan, Faysal-Khatami’s talks cantered on the Palestinian issue and the support the Muslim world could bring to the Palestinian people.
The two sides addressed "the grim situation of the defenceless Palestinians facing Israel's non-stop attacks" and "the necessity to use the potential in the Muslim countries to stop Israeli crimes", Mr. Hamid Reza Asefi, the Iraqi-born senior spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Affairs Ministry briefed journalists.
"Mr. Minister Kamal Kharrazi and his Saudi counterpart expressed concern about continued suppression and massacre of the defenceless Palestinian people", the official news agency IRNA reported.
"Kharrazi and al-Faisal also condemned the Zionist Regime for its efforts to escalate crisis and tension in the region and stressed restoration of the Palestinian people's rights and called for an end to their massacre by Israel", the Agency added.
According to IRNA, Mr. Kharrazi accused Washington to be the supporter of world's "major racist regime", adding that one-sided support of the US for Israel is a "blatant example of discrimination being exercised by the newly founded apartheid regime (Israel) in the Middle East".
The Islamic Republic of Iran has no relations with Washington and Tel Aviv and its clerical rulers repeatedly call for the "eradication" of the Jewish State from the region’s map, but Riyadh is the United States' main ally and has forwarded a comprehensive project aimed at ending the half a century-long bloody conflict on the "peace for land" proposal.
In a speech pronounced some months ago, the regime former president, Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani called on Arab powers to drop an atomic bomb over Israel.
Tehran is also against adamantly to any peace between Israel and Palestine and provides military, financial and propaganda support to all Palestinian and Arab groups opposed to the Middle East peace process.
The two ministers stressed the need to force Israel to bow to the UN Security Council resolutions and praised the role of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in benefiting from the important status and potential of Muslim states to promote international peace and security.
Al-Faysal for his part said his country is for restoration of the rights of Palestinians and looks at it as a means for restoration of permanent peace to the region and reiterated on the need for adoption of strategies to maintain stability and promote security in the region.
Tehran cut relations with Riyadh in 1984 after Saudi police opened fire on Iranian pilgrims who, on orders from Grand Ayatollah Roohollah Khomeini, the leader of the Islamic revolution, had staged anti-American demonstrations during the sacred hajj pilgrimage, killing at least 400 worshippers.
"Saddam (Hoseyn, the Iraqi dictator) is an evil man, but the Saudi leaders are even worse. They are not the Servants, but Traitors to the holy shrines", Mr. Khomeini ruled, saying Iran would "never ever" resume relations with the Saudis.
However, ties resumed under the presidency of Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani, but improved after the surprise victory of Hojjatoleslam Mohammad Khatami in the May 1997 presidential elections.
The two regional powers inked a security pact in April last year during a landmark visit to Tehran by Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz, the first Saudi interior minister to visit Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
The deal between Saudi Arabia and Iran -- respectively the number one and two oil producers in the 11 members Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), also touches on money laundering, border surveillance and Persian Gulf territorial waters.
Mr. Khatami visited the kingdom in 1999 and the two nations have also worked together since that time to orchestrate the OPEC production cuts that stabilised prices.
Touching on international developments in the aftermath of terrorist attacks on the US, Prince Faysal said it is necessary for Muslim states to build up efforts to prevent distortion of Islamic feature and to present the peaceful feature of Islam and Muslims. ENDS IRAN SAUDI 3802