NEW YORK: Saudi Arabia reiterated that Iran seeks to distract the world’s attention from its dire human rights situation through the creation of chaos and destabilization of regional security and stability and the spreading of a discourse of hatred and sectarianism.
This came in a Saudi statement at the UN this week commenting on the human rights situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The statement was delivered by the Saudi acting charge d’affaires at the UN, Khaled Manzlawi.
“Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorist militias are actively involved in various military operations in neighboring countries. This has left hundreds of thousands dead and millions wounded, displaced or becoming refugees, thus ignoring human rights and all international laws and treaties,” he said.
“The Iranian people have reaped the fruits of their government’s hostile policy toward the world. However, instead of taking advantage of its financial revenues to develop the country, Iran has started to ignite sedition outside its geographical borders. It supported terrorist operations around the world and destabilized neighboring countries.”
Manzlawi added that it is no secret that Iran has a black record in the field of human rights, lack of respect for international conventions and treaties, and disavowal of its international obligations.
“There is no positive evidence on the ground suggesting that the injustice and oppression against Ahwazi Arabs and Iran’s confiscation of their Arab identity and civil rights will be dealt with,” Manzlawi said, “not to mention the ethnic and religious discrimination practiced by the Iranian regime against non-Persian peoples,” he added.
He also condemned the massacres committed by the Iranian regime in 1988. “These massacres killed thousands of political prisoners who violated Khomeini’s extremist and sectarian ideas and paid for it with their lives. We call on the international community to condemn and investigate these massacres.”
Manzlawi also cited that Iran offers material and logistical support for all terrorist operations carried out by the Houthi militias in Yemen. “Yemeni ports were used to smuggle ballistic missiles, weapons, ammunition and explosives to the terrorist militias there. Iran also exacerbated the suffering of the Yemeni people due to the siege imposed by the Houthi militias on some of its ports,” he concluded.
Meanwhile, Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi has asserted that Iran is using Houthi and ousted Saleh militias to try to destabilize the security and stability of neighboring countries, specifically the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
“Iran is seeking to form a new Hezbollah on the borders of the Kingdom with its support of Houthi militias,” Hadi said during a meeting with his government’s officials.
He added that the coup militias imposed an unjust war on the Yemeni people in favor of Iran.
The Yemeni president also hailed the role of the Arab coalition countries and their support for legitimacy in Yemen.