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, a top Saudi diplomat said.
"We
believe that many of the West’s policies on both Iran and Syria risk
the stability and security of the Middle East," the Saudi ambassador to
Britain, Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf bin Abdulaziz, wrote in a commentary
in the New York Times.
"This is a dangerous gamble, about which we cannot remain silent, and will not stand idly by," he wrote.The bluntly-worded warning was the latest in a series of public statements by senior Saudi figures expressing displeasure with US and Western diplomatic initiatives towards Syria and Iran.
Until recently, Saudi leaders rarely voiced public criticism of their Western allies in a decades-long partnership.
But
Washington's decision to pull back from military action in Syria and
its backing for an interim nuclear deal with Iran has dismayed the
oil-rich Saudi kingdom, which views Tehran as a dangerous regional
rival.
Citing Iran's backing
for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime, he 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, he said.
"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 Gulf monarchy 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."
In a thinly veiled jab at US President Barack Obama, the Saudi ambassador 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."
Obama
had used the term "red lines" to warn Syria's regime against using
chemical weapons. After the regime was accused of firing chemical
weapons, Obama threatened punitive military strikes. But in the end he
pursued a diplomatic agreement in which Damascus promised to give up its
lethal arsenal of chemical agents.
The
Saudi ambassador slammed the West for its reluctance to offer decisive
help to Syrian rebels, vowing to continue support for the Free Syrian
Army and the "Syrian opposition."
Acknowledging
the threat of Al-Qaeda-linked groups in Syria, he argued the best way
to counter the rise of extremists among the rebels was to support the
"champions of moderation."
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