Iran Raps Saudi Crown Prince’s Al-Qaeda Comments

TEHRAN (defapress) – Iran’s Foreign Ministry slammed as a “big lie” the Saudi crown prince’s allegation that Iran has been hosting al-Qaeda leaders, saying such delusive accusations could not whitewash the Saudi regime’s role in creating terrorist groups and orchestrating September 11 attacks.

News ID: 69296

Date: 20 March 2018 - 14:40

In comments on Tuesday, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi hit back at Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman for his “big lie” about Iran in a recent interview with CBS News.

In his interview, the 32-years-old Saudi crown prince accused Iran of being a destabilizing force in the region and of hosting and supporting al-Qaeda leaders, including Osama Bin Laden's son.

“He (bin Salman) could not use such amateurish lies to hide the role of Saudi Arabia’s government and leaders in creating the most dangerous terrorist groups in modern history and in major terrorist incidents like the September 11 (attacks),” Qassemi added.

The Saudi crown prince proved to be “an amateurish and mistaken liar” that is not even familiar with Saudi Arabia’s history and culture, the Iranian spokesperson deplored.

It is now obvious to the world that Saudi intelligence bodies have founded the al-Qaeda terrorist organization and have had “systematic links” with it, Qassemi added, pointing to the US reports on links between 9/11 attacks and Saudi Arabia.

He also explained that Iran has already arrested and extradited the al-Qaeda forces that had illegally crossed the border in the early years of the US invasion of Afghanistan.

A number of bin Laden’s family were among those detained in Iran, the spokesperson noted, saying Iran had informed the Saudi government of the arrest of those individuals.

He also noted that bin Laden’s daughter was transferred to the Saudi embassy in Tehran, while the other members of his family were expelled from the same border they had used for illegal entry, at the request of the Saudi officials.

Decrying the Saudi crown prince’s “brazen attempt” in the US trip to seize the throne, Qassemi said bin Salman had better find a way to erase the dark record of Saudi supports for terrorism instead of spending hundreds of billions of dollars of the Saudi nation’s assets on American arms.