In the exclusive interview with CNBC on Tuesday, January 5, 2016, Saudi foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir said “Iranians have got away with murder, literally, for more than 30 years”.
Saudi Arabia has since cut diplomatic relations with Iran, with which it has long had a highly volatile relation.
Foreign minister Jubeir added that Iran executed “hundreds of people” annually, actively supported terrorists and sowed conflict throughout the Middle East.
“Iranians daring to inject themselves into our domestic affairs is in-line with what Iran has been doing for years throughout the region; in Lebanon, in Syria, in Iraq, in Bahrain, in Yemen. They have been providing supplies for terrorists; they have been recruiting people; they have been assassinating people; they have been sowing sectarianism in the region, splitting the Islamic world. Their policies are in violation of all the norms and customs that the international community has been based on,” al-Jubeir told CNBC.
Amnesty International has warned of an “unprecedented spike” in executions in Iran, which it says is the most prolific executioner in the world after China. It says that Iranian authorities are believed to have executed 694 people between January and July 15, 2015 alone.
While Iran remains under international sanctions because of its nuclear-enrichment program, Saudi Arabia is viewed as an ally of the West in general and the U.S. in particular.
Al-Jubeir’s comments will be of high interest to policymakers in Washington, where the Saudi foreign minister is well known. He was appointed foreign minister in April 2015 and has spent years at the forefront of U.S.-Saudi relations. He served as ambassador to the U.S. for eight years and has degrees from both Georgetown University and the University of North Texas, including an honorary doctorate. Al-Jubeir speaks German as well as fluent English and Arabic.