TEHRAN – Iran’s top security official has explained the goal of Iran’s negotiations with Saudi Arabia, reminding it that Israel is the biggest enemy of the Islamic and Arab worlds.

Ali Shamkhani, who is the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, made the remarks after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman said in a recent interview that Riyadh does not view Israel as an enemy, but a potential ally.

“Iran's active participation in bilateral talks with Saudi Arabia -hosted by Iraq- stems from the Islamic Republic’s principled strategy for [fostering] cooperation & amity with neighbors based on securing bilateral and regional interests. We should not forget that the Zionist regime is the biggest enemy of the Islamic and Arab worlds,” Shamkhani said on Twitter.

In addition to Persian, Shamkhani posted the tweet in other languages such as Arabic, Hebrew, and English. 

Saudi Arabian officials have said that they don’t mind establishing relations with Israel if the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is settled. Recently, Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan said that Israel's integration into the region would be beneficial not only for Israel but for the region as a whole. He made the remarks in an interview with the Israeli newspaper Maariv on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.

The Saudi foreign minister added that his country will continue the peace process with Israel if the Palestinian issue is resolved fairly.

He noted that this situation would strengthen extremist movements in the region without resolving the deep-rooted problems of the Palestinian people and respecting their sovereignty. The Saudi foreign minister pointed out that that the priority now is to find a solution so that the Israelis and Palestinians can sit together to pursue a peace process. He also stressed that this will make things easier for all countries that do not yet have relations with Israel.