Iran-Saudi Defense Cooperation to Reduce Dependence on Alien Forces
October 28, 2000 - 0:0
TEHRAN Saudi Arabian Interior Minister Nayef bin Abd al-Aziz announced on Wednesday that his country is interested in signing a security pact with Iran, reported the Central News Bureau (CNB).
Prince Nayef addressing a press conference in Riyadh called on Tehran to give positive answer to the suggestion, the CNB reported.
Iran-Saudi relations have improved since 1997 when President Khatami came to power in Iran. But there are other reasons for the improvement of Iran-Saudi relations, one of them being the Saudi awareness of the fact that Israel is a common enemy and that the United States is in the region for its own interests not for the interests of the regional countries.
Tehran and Riyadh remained estranged for more than a decade after the victory of the Islamic Revolution mainly due to the propaganda of the Zionist regime and the United States.
During the Cold War the United States had succeeded in recycling the petrodollars from the Persian Gulf countries by capitalizing on the menace of the "Evil Empire" or the Red Army.
After the victory of the Islamic Revolution, the United States tried to project Iran as a menace to the region.
It succeeded in its plots which led to the estrangement of Iran with its neighbors.
The more the regional states remained alien to each other, the more they needed to rely on foreign forces.
Now Saudi Arabia and other regional countries have come to know that Iran does not pose any threat to them. The Zionist regime is the main threat to their security which is fully backed by the U.S.
The latest move by the U.S. Congress to support Israel is the approval of an aid package of 2.82 billion dollars for Israel.
It also asked the administration to fully support Israel at other international fora.
Given all these developments, it is but natural for all regional countries to come closer to each other to reduce their dependence on foreign forces, particularly the United States.
The Saudi interior minister had announced on October 17 that Tehran has not a complete view on what can be counted as agreement between the two countries, something that procrastinated the agreement to be inked.
Iran's Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani in his recent visit to Saudi Arabia announced Iran's readiness for a defense pact with Saudi Arabia. Hence both sides must work more closely to finalize the pact.
The Saudi minister also called on Kuwait and Qatar to join the security agreement in the Persian Gulf.
He said he would talk to his Yemeni counterpart on demarcation of borders.
He stressed that only Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain and Oman have signed the agreement although it has not yet been approved by the Consultative Council in Abu Dhabi.
Prince Nayef addressing a press conference in Riyadh called on Tehran to give positive answer to the suggestion, the CNB reported.
Iran-Saudi relations have improved since 1997 when President Khatami came to power in Iran. But there are other reasons for the improvement of Iran-Saudi relations, one of them being the Saudi awareness of the fact that Israel is a common enemy and that the United States is in the region for its own interests not for the interests of the regional countries.
Tehran and Riyadh remained estranged for more than a decade after the victory of the Islamic Revolution mainly due to the propaganda of the Zionist regime and the United States.
During the Cold War the United States had succeeded in recycling the petrodollars from the Persian Gulf countries by capitalizing on the menace of the "Evil Empire" or the Red Army.
After the victory of the Islamic Revolution, the United States tried to project Iran as a menace to the region.
It succeeded in its plots which led to the estrangement of Iran with its neighbors.
The more the regional states remained alien to each other, the more they needed to rely on foreign forces.
Now Saudi Arabia and other regional countries have come to know that Iran does not pose any threat to them. The Zionist regime is the main threat to their security which is fully backed by the U.S.
The latest move by the U.S. Congress to support Israel is the approval of an aid package of 2.82 billion dollars for Israel.
It also asked the administration to fully support Israel at other international fora.
Given all these developments, it is but natural for all regional countries to come closer to each other to reduce their dependence on foreign forces, particularly the United States.
The Saudi interior minister had announced on October 17 that Tehran has not a complete view on what can be counted as agreement between the two countries, something that procrastinated the agreement to be inked.
Iran's Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani in his recent visit to Saudi Arabia announced Iran's readiness for a defense pact with Saudi Arabia. Hence both sides must work more closely to finalize the pact.
The Saudi minister also called on Kuwait and Qatar to join the security agreement in the Persian Gulf.
He said he would talk to his Yemeni counterpart on demarcation of borders.
He stressed that only Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain and Oman have signed the agreement although it has not yet been approved by the Consultative Council in Abu Dhabi.