TEHRAN – Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Tuesday that Saudi Arabia as the birthplace of a fundamentalist ideology and a source of organized international terrorism lacks competence to accuse other countries of supporting terrorism.

 Bahram Qassemi’s comments came in reaction to “totally false and hateful” remarks against Iran by former Saudi minister of state for foreign affairs Adel Al-Jubeir in a press conference during a visit to Pakistan on Monday.

According to Saudi Gazette, Jubeir said Iran has been the chief sponsor of terrorism for decades.

The Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) chief Ali Jafari has blamed Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for a last week terrorist attack on Iranian military forces near the border with Pakistan which led to the death of 27 IRGC forces. Jafari also criticized Pakistan for failing to fully guard its border with Iran.

The Jaish al-Adl group, which claimed responsibility for the attack, uses Pakistan’s soil to launch terror attacks in Iran.

Taha Siddiqui, a Pakistani journalist and founder of safenewsrooms.org, has told Al Jazeera that “many of these groups have Saudi funding, but since Pakistan is dependent on Saudi aid, it turns a blind eye,” on the existence of Jaish al-Adl  and other armed groups.

In his Tuesday statement, Qassemi said, “The empty and hateful remarks by [Jubeir], who has a long record of making lies and showing hatred towards Iran and Iranians, will not change the reality that the real godfather of Takfiri terrorism in the world and the region is nobody but his government.” 

He added, “There is no need for further explanation for those who know a little bit about [Jubeir’s] hypocritical face.” 

The Foreign Ministry spokesman called Saudi Arabia as the source of terrorism in which its officials have no right to accuse others of backing terrorism.

“Saudi Arabia as the birthplace of the fundamentalist ideology and the source of exporting organized terrorism at the international level has no competence and credit to accuse other countries of supporting terrorism.”

The Foreign Ministry official said al-Jubeir should be held accountable for the terrorism rooted in his country’s ruling structure.

“Instead of pinning the blame on others and making vain efforts to divert the world’s public opinion away from his role in establishing and spreading such cruel and killer groups, the Saudi minister of state for foreign affairs should be answerable for the terrorism rooted in the structure of the establishment of Saudi Arabia and narrate the big inhumane crimes and catastrophes resulted from the military invasion against the Yemeni people and the killing of innocent people of other countries in the region and the world by the terrorist groups created by it in the region and the world.”

Qassemi said as human rights groups have repeatedly mentioned Saudi Arabia grossly violates human rights. “Human rights groups have frequently issued resolutions attracting attentions to gross human rights violations in Saudi Arabia. However, this country is still supported by the U.S. and the Western communities.” 

The ministry official said the West’s support for the royals in Riyadh has emboldened Saudi Arabia in spreading terrorism.

“Emboldened by the support and shielded by double standards of the U.S. and some (other) Western governments, Saudi Arabia has for years been spreading extremism and arming and training its tamed terrorists.” 

Elsewhere, Qassemi pointed to deep relations between Iran and Pakistan, saying the two sides have the right understanding and knowledge of their neighborhood relations.

“Iran expects Pakistan to deal more decisively with terrorist groups who use the country’s soil for orchestrating and carrying out terrorist operations against targets in Iran,” he said.

“Considering the level and depth of our relations with Pakistan, we will express these criticisms or expectations through regular political, intelligence and military channels with related officials of this country and will follow up.”

Qassemi said Tehran will pursue issues resulting from spoiling acts of criminal terrorists while taking into account realities of relations between the two neighboring countries.

“Certainly, there is vigilance and insight among the two countries of Iran and Pakistan so the hateful Saudi officials cannot satanically misuse recent incidents to harm Tehran-Islamabad relations,” Qassemi concluded.

SP/