Iran warns France not be influenced by bin Salman’s claims, warmongering

Tehran has warned Paris against being influenced by the “warmongering” Saudi crown prince’s “baseless claims and lies,” which are aimed at destroying the landmark nuclear accord between Iran and six world powers, including France.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Bahram Qassemi, on Thursday rejected the fresh accusations against the Islamic Republic in a joint statement issued by Paris and Riyadh at the end of a visit to France by Mohammed bin Salman, the heir to the Saudi throne.

In the statement, Saudi Arabia and France “agreed on the need to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.” They also discussed steps against Iran’s national defense program as well as the Islamic Republic’s regional role.

In response, Qassemi said France, as one of the seven signatories to the 2015 nuclear deal, should “avoid being influenced” by bin Salman’s “adventurism” and “lies.”

Saudi Arabia’s “repetitive claims” against Iran are “meant to counter” the Iran deal, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), said Qassemi, adding that the Saudi kingdom had spend hefty amounts of money to that effect.

Under the JCPOA, which was signed in July 2015, Iran undertook to put limits on its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of nuclear-related sanctions imposed against Tehran.

The peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program and Tehran’s commitment to its side of the JCPOA have repeatedly been confirmed in reports by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which is tasked with monitoring the technical aspect of the JCPOA implementation.

“Contrary to the claims in this statement, the Islamic Republic of Iran has always taken steps in line with the stability and security of regional states as well as the fight against terrorism and terror groups,” Qassemi said, adding, “France should know that such oppositions raised against Iran is rooted in the fury of certain states over Iran’s victories in the battle against the terrorists they have trained.”

French officials, he added, already know that Iran’s missile program is defensive in nature and poses no threat to any country, emphasizing that the Islamic Republic’s missile work is a “domestic issue and no country has been allowed to interfere in this matter.”

Qassemi further slammed France’s arms sales to the Saudi regime, which has been involved in a deadly military campaign against Yemen for over three years, calling on Paris to “pay attention to public opinion in France and review its polices on the export to Saudi Arabia of weapons, which have been used in the kingdom’s aggression against Yemenis and to massacre its innocent people.”

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Paris must not allow its relations with the ancient and cultured Iranian nation to be negatively affected by the Saudi crown prince, a “novice” and “warmonger” who is facing “genocide charges” at French courts, the Iranian official said.

France is the world’s third biggest arms exporter and counts Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates among its biggest customers.

Paris has been under fire by leading international rights groups for giving the Saudi regime its weapons of war. The rights bodies say France is complicit in Riyadh’s war crimes in Yemen.

During bin Salman’s stay in France earlier this week, the Yemen-based Legal Center for Rights and Development (LCRD) filed a lawsuit with a Paris court against bin Salman, who also serves as the Saudi defense minister and leads the war on Yemen.

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