DAR AL HARB/ISLAM - U.S.A./IRAN: THE ARMS DEAL IS MEANT TO "SPREAD FEAR"

Iran condemns US over Saudi arms deal

TEHERAN - Iran on Monday lashed out at the United States over a proposed arms package for Saudi Arabia and other Arab allies that seeks to counter Iranian influence, saying the deal was aimed at “spreading fear.”

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates is expected to discuss the package -- reportedly worth 20 billion dollars -- in a visit with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to the kingdom and other Arab states this week.

Foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said reports of the deal showed the United States was bent on “spreading fear” in the Middle East to generate better sales for its weapons and munitions.

“The United States has always had special policy of spreading fear in the region and tarnishing existing good relations” between countries in the Middle East, Hosseini said.

“It also wants to spread fear to sell and export its arms to the region and thus it talks about fabricated accusations towards some countries of the region,” he added.

US media have reported that the US government is expected to announce arms deals worth at least 20 billion dollars with Saudi Arabia and five other Gulf states.

A senior US defence official, who was not named, has said “the aim of the package to deal with the changing strategic threat from Iran and other forces.”

The Pentagon has yet to provide details on the arms package, which will reportedly total 20 billion dollars over the next decade.

Shiite Iran and Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia are OPEC’s top two oil producers. Both sides have in recent months publicly vowed to work together to stabilise politics in multi-confessional Lebanon.

However relations between Riyadh and Teheran have been tested over Iran’s growing influence in Iraq and its alleged backing of Shiite militias battling the Sunni minority. Iran denies the charges.

While Riyadh remains one of the top allies of the United States in the region, Iran has no diplomatic ties with Washington amid three decades of almost uninterrupted enmity.

In the run up to the deal, the United States has however accused Saudi Arabia and other US allies of undermining US efforts to end the violence in Iraq.

“There is no question that ... Saudi Arabia and a number of other countries are not doing all they can to help us in Iraq,” US ambassador to the United Nations Zalmay Khalilzad said on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Iranian Defence Minister Brigadier General Mostafa Mohammad Najjar also hit out at the US military assistance for Arab states in the Middle East.

“They are trying to create a false arms race, in order to keep their weapon factories up and running and save them from bankruptcy,” he said, according to the IRNA agency.

However Najjar also struck a conciliatory tone towards the Arab countries, saying it was up to individual Muslim states to decide which weapons to purchase for its military.

“Any nation has the right to manufacture or purchase its required weapons in order to consolidate its defence capabilities.”

“Iran is not absolutely worried about any friendly and brotherly Muslim nation consolidating their defence abilities, and it sees their increasing their defence abilities as a part of the Islamic world’s defence capabilities.”

Oman’s minister responsible for foreign affairs Yussef bin Alawi bin Abdullah, on a visit to Egypt, said on Sunday Iran did not pose a threat to the Gulf region.

“Iran is a neighbouring state and we have a common interest which is to maintain stability and security in the region,” he said.




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