Iran’s Foreign Ministry has reacted angrily to the latest remarks by Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman about Iran’s role in the region. On Tuesday, the Saudi prince, who is also the Kingdom’s defense minister, ruled out the prospect of dialogue with Iran to defuse tension in the region. "How do you have a dialogue with a regime built on an extremist ideology ... that they must control the land of Muslims and spread their Twelver Jaafari sect in the Muslim world," he said in the interview broadcast on Saudi state television. “We are a primary target for the Iranian regime,” Mohammed continued, warning that “we won’t wait for the battle to be in Saudi Arabia. Instead, we’ll work so that the battle is for them in Iran.”

In reaction to Mohammed’s remarks, Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Ghassemi said such remarks are unhelpful at a time when regional cooperation is needed to resolve Middle East problems. “Such comments are clear evidence that the Saudis promote terrorism and pursue provocative and destructive policies regarding the region and Iran affairs,” he said.

Comment: Relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia took a nosedive in January 2016 after Iranian mobs torched the Saudi embassy in Tehran. Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates also recalled their ambassadors to demonstrate solidarity with Riyadh. In January, Kuwait’s foreign minister paid a rare visit to Tehran to deliver to Rouhani a message from the six-member Gulf Corporation Council (G.C.C.) that called for frank dialogue between Iran and the Gulf states. But as Mohammed’s remarks indicate, Riyadh and some of its regional allies now see dialogue with Tehran as futile. Iran’s increasing support for the Houthi rebels in Yemen is particularly worrying Saudi leaders.

The latest war of words between Riyadh and Tehran also comes at a critical time when U.S. President Donald Trump is scheduled to travel to Saudi Arabia and Israel this month. The Trump administration has reinvigorated relations with the two countries and has vowed to work with Washington’s traditional allies to push back against Iran’s destabilizing role in the region.

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