Iran’s Judiciary Chief Decries US Support for Saudi Crimes
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran’s Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli Larijani slammed Washington’s backing for Saudi rulers whose hands are stained with the blood of Yemenis, saying US President Donald Trump’s recent visit to Riyadh showed the true color of the so-called advocate of human rights.
“We all witnessed how the US president went to a country whose rulers have their hands stained with the blood of Yemen’s innocent people and have committed the gravest war crimes,” Ayatollah Amoli Larijani said in a meeting of high-ranking judiciary officials on Monday, referring to Trump’s trip to Saudi Arabia.
Since March 25, 2015, Saudi Arabia and some of its Arab allies have been carrying out airstrikes against the Houthi Ansarullah movement in an attempt to restore power to Yemen’s fugitive former president.
According to Yemen’s Legal Center of Rights and Development, the Saudi campaign has claimed the lives of over 12,000 Yemenis and left more than 20,000 others wounded.
Ayatollah Amoli Larijani slammed the “American human rights” that is used as “merely a tool in the hands of domineering governments,” saying the trip was aimed at “supporting the Saudis’ anti-human conducts, strengthening the Zionists, and spreading Iranophobia.”
Dismissing Trump’s anti-Iran remarks during his tour of the region, he said, “The Americans have come from thousands of kilometers away and joined a regime’s rulers who have never held an election in sword dancing and then call Iran a ‘supporter of terrorism’.
“In response (to the Americans), it should be said that you are the father of terrorists and creators of terrorism in the region.”
Elsewhere in his remarks, the Judiciary Chief underlined the Islamic Republic of Iran’s resolve to continue enhancing its defense capabilities, wondering why Iran should abandon its defense programs when the US signs arms deals worth billions of dollars with Saudi Arabia.
During his visit to Riyadh, Trump baselessly accused Iran of destabilizing the Middle East and supporting terrorist groups.
Trump traveled to the kingdom on his first foreign visit during which he signed a $110-billion arms deal with Riyadh.
The US president named Iran as the target of the deal and urged cooperative measures between the signatories and other Arab countries against what it called Iran's unfavorable regional role.
