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Adel al-Jubeir: Iran ‘largest sponsor of terrorism in the world’

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Saudi Arabia's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adelal-Jubeir called on the international community to continue its pressure on theIranian regime to change its destructive behavior in the region, branding theIslamic Republic as "the largest sponsor of terrorism in the world."

During a session hosted by the Foreign Affairs Committee of the EuropeanParliament in Brussels, al-Jubeir tackled several issues affectingthe stability of the region.

He said Saudi Arabia had extended its hand to Iran since 1979but has seen nothing "but death and destruction [from Iran]."

Speaking about the protests in Iran, Iraq and Lebanon,al-Jubeir said the Iranian regime is losing influence internally andregionally.

"Now the Iranians are on the defensive, they have demonstrationsin Iran, you have Shiite demonstrating in Iraq against Iran's influence and youhave demonstrations in Lebanon against Hezbollah. These are all reactions toIran's aggressive policies in the region," said al-Jubeir.

Al-Jubeir also affirmed the Kingdom's stance toward achieving apolitical solution to end the war in Yemen.

He added that Saudi Arabia had provided $14 billion to Yemen ineconomic and humanitarian assistance, "more than any country in the world," butthe Houthis had taken it for themselves.

Al-Jubeir said the Houthi militia launched more than 300ballistic missile attacks against the kingdom and more than 200 drone attacksand nobody blamed these acts.

Regarding the Qatar boycott, al-Jubeir said the problem stillexists and that "it is up to the Qatari brothers to come up with a change intheir behavior that would allow the way to move forward."

"We have issues with Qatar's support for extremism andterrorism. We have issues with Qatar providing ransom payment to terroristorganization like Hezbollah in Iraq and others to get back prisoners. This isfinancing terrorism. We have issues with Qatar harboring known terrorfinanciers. We have issues with Qatar interfering in domestic affairs and wehave made those issues clear to our brothers in Qatar. We hope they will beable to change their behavior and act like a normal country," said al-Jubeir.