“On behalf of the US and West, Saudi Arabia is masterminding and sponsoring terrorism in Muslim countries,” Ali Akbar Velayati, a top adviser to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, said on Tuesday.

He pointed to Saudi Arabia’s military aggression on Yemen, saying the US is backing the illegal aggression by remaining silent.

Yemen has been under military strikes by Saudi Arabia on a daily basis since March 26. The strikes are supposedly meant to undermine the Houthi Ansarullah movement and fugitive former Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, a staunch ally of Riyadh.

According to a new tally, at least 7,000 people have lost their lives in the Saudi strikes, and a total of nearly 14,000 people have been injured since March.

Saudi FM Allegations Rejected

Velayati dismissed the recent “callow and baseless” allegations by Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir that Iran is meddling in the affairs of Arab countries. Riyadh is in no position to make such remarks about the Islamic Republic, the Iranian official said.

“Saudi Arabia is brazenly and groundlessly interfering in the internal affairs of Arab and neighboring countries in the region, and makes such remarks about the Islamic Republic of Iran’s judicious policies to justify its behavior,” said Velayati, who is also the president of the Center for Strategic Research of Iran's top arbitration body Expediency Council.

He emphasized that Iran acts in accordance with the demands of regional countries such as Syria.

Speaking at a joint press briefing with his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Riyadh on October 19, the Saudi foreign minister claimed that Iran is meddling in the affairs of the kingdom’s neighbors and said Riyadh calls on Iran to “change its policies and stop meddling in the affairs of other countries in the region, in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen;” Press TV reported.

S/SH