Khalid bin Salman: Iranian Regime Exploiting Those it Claims to Protect

Saudi Deputy Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman. (AFP)

Saudi Deputy Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman urged Arab peoples without exception to “realize that the Iranian regime considers its supporters as pawns to achieve its goals.”

In a series of tweets on Friday, he said the regime is exploiting these people to “protect itself, not their countries.”

The Tehran regime claims to protect the weak, “but it is instead cowering behind them to protect its security and ensure its continuity,” he added.

He made his remarks in wake of the attacks against two Saudi oil facilities last week.

Despite global consensus that the attacks were not launched by the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, Tehran had urged the militias to claim the operation to divert attention from its culpability.

Saudi Ambassador to the United Nations Abdallah al-Mouallimi told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Kingdom’s mission has received dozens of statements of condemnation over the attack against the Abqaiq and Khurais facilities.

Riyadh had informed the UN Security Council that it was dealing with the attack as an organized terrorist operation and it will retaliate to it according to international law.