Iran says U.S. arm sales turning Middle East into "tinderbox"
Zarif warned about the dangers of large U.S. arms sales in the Middle East, where Iran's regional rival Saudi Arabia is a major buyer of Western weapons. "The Americans have turned the region into a tinderbox. The level of arms sales by the Americans is unbelievable and much beyond regional needs and this points to the very dangerous policies followed by the Americans," IRNA reported Zarif as saying.
- World
- Agencies and A News
- Published Date: 12:00 | 08 December 2018
- Modified Date: 06:39 | 08 December 2018
"We've read in the American media that U.S. arms are in hands of al-Qaeda in Yemen and Daesh in Syria, and this is a danger threatening our region," Zarif said, according to IRNA.
Turkey has also objected to the U.S. supplying weapons to the terrorist group YPG/PKK in northern Syria.
On the arrest of Meng Wanzhou, an executive of the Chinese firm Huawei, Zarif said: "Isolated on the world stage, the U.S. got into a [trade] war with China and even arrested a senior Huawei executive, showing the U.S.' frustration rather than its power."
The U.S. has claimed that Meng, the daughter of the founder of Huawei, used an unofficial subsidiary named Skycom to do business with Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions.
The Speakers' Conference, hosted by Tehran with the participation of Afghanistan, Turkey, Pakistan, China and Russia, focuses on the "Challenges of Terrorism and Inter-Regional Connectivity."