by WorldTribune Staff, November 9, 2017

Saudi Arabia placing trust in the United States is a “tragic mistake and miscalculation,” Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Nov. 8.

Rouhani, during a cabinet meeting, called for an end to hostile relations between Teheran and Riyadh, adding that the Sunni kingdom and other Muslim states should come together and help each other instead of cozying up to the U.S. and Israel.

“You are mistaken if you think Iran is not your friend, but the U.S. and Israel are,” Iran’s Press TV reported Rouhani as saying. “This mentality is a strategic mistake and miscalculation. Our path in the region is to establish and promote stability; we want the geographic borders not to change, nations to decide for themselves, and bombardments and aggression against regional nations to be stopped.”

Rouhani claimed that the recent firing of missiles by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen at Riyadh was a reaction to “Saudi aggression.”

“How should the Yemenite people react to [the] bombardment of their country? So, they are not allowed to use their own weapons? You stop the bombardment first and see if the Yemenites would not do the same,” Rouhani said.

The Iranian president blamed Israel and the U.S. for the instability in the region and claimed both countries were doing so to benefit from the arms trade. “The hegemonic [states] plunder the oil and wealth of the region and, in return, they sell their different weapons to fan the flames.”

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  Hassan Rouhani, Houthi rebels, Iran’s Rouhani: Muslim states ‘mistaken’ if they place trust in U.S. and Israel, WorldTribune.com