WASHINGTON (AFP) — The West’s policies on Iran and Syria are a “dangerous gamble” and Saudi Arabia is prepared to act on its own to safeguard security in the region, according to Saudi Ambassador to Britain Prince Mohammed Bin Nawaf Bin Abdul Aziz.
“We believe that many of the West’s policies on both Iran and Syria risk the stability and security of the Middle East,” he wrote in a commentary in the New York Times on Tuesday. “This is a dangerous gamble, about which we cannot remain silent, and will not stand idly by,” Prince Mohammed Bin Nawaf wrote.
Citing Iran’s backing for Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad’s regime, the Saudi ambassador said “rather than challenging the Syrian and Iranian governments, some of our Western partners have refused to take much-needed action against them.”“The West has allowed one regime to survive and the other to continue its program for uranium enrichment, with all the consequent dangers of weaponization,” he wrote.
Diplomatic talks with Iran may “dilute” the West’s will to confront both Damascus and Tehran. “What price is ‘peace’ though, when it is made with such regimes?”
As a result, Saudi Arabia “has no choice but to become more assertive in international affairs: more determined than ever to stand up for the genuine stability our region so desperately needs.” The Kingdom had “global responsibilities,” both political and economic, and he said: “We will act to fulfill these responsibilities, with or without the support of our Western partners.”
Prince Mohammed Bin Nawaf said that “for all their talk of ‘red lines,’ when it counted, our partners have seemed all too ready to concede our safety and risk our region’s stability.”
The ambassador slammed the West for its reluctance to offer decisive help to Syrian rebels, vowing to continue support for the Free Syrian Army. – AFP
