Riyadh: Iran’s First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref has met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. During the meeting in Riyadh, Aref and bin Salman emphasized that the relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia are irreversible.
According to Islamic Republic News Agency, the meeting was part of an extraordinary summit in Riyadh where Aref criticized the ineffectiveness of international mechanisms in stopping Israeli aggression in Gaza and Lebanon. He called for ‘collective action’ from Islamic and Arab leaders to address these issues. The summit saw leaders from more than 50 Islamic and Arab countries gather in the Saudi capital for the second emergency meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Arab League, focusing on the Israeli hostilities in Gaza and Lebanon.
Aref laid out three primary goals during the summit, urging Muslim and Arab leaders to work toward halting the ongoing Israeli atrocities, implementing necessary measures to prevent their recurrence, and providing adeq
uate compensation for the damages inflicted on the people of Palestine and Lebanon. He underscored the moral obligation of all nations to confront what he described as one of the most severe injustices of the past century-the violent occupation of Palestinian territory and the ongoing displacement and genocide of its people.
He expressed deep concern over the ‘shameful catastrophe’ that has unfolded over the past year in occupied Palestine and more recently in Lebanon. Aref attributed these events not only to the brutality of a racist occupying entity but also to the ‘sense of impunity’ it enjoys due to unconditional support from the United States and several other Western governments. He pointed out that over 50,000 innocent people, mostly women and children, have been killed in Gaza, with similar atrocities now being committed in Lebanon, all facilitated by political, financial, intelligence, and military backing from the US.
