Macron reaches in Saudi Arabia amid regional tensions

Macron reaches in Saudi Arabia amid regional tensions
French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Saudi Arabia late on November 9 for an unscheduled visit at a time of heightened tensions between Riyadh and its regional rival Tehran.

During a visit to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Macron announced that he would travel to Saudi Arabia to discuss Lebanon and Yemen with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

"I believe it’s important that we work with Saudi Arabia for the purpose of guaranteeing stability in the region and the fight against terrorism," he said.

Saudi Arabia and Iran are standing on opposite sides of disputes in Lebanon and Yemen.

Saudi Arabia has called on its citizens to leave Lebanon, as has the Kuwaiti government.

And on November 6, Saudi Arabia accused Hizballah of firing a ballistic missile from Yemen that was intercepted near the Saudi capital.

Saudi Arabia’s crown prince later accused Iran of "direct military aggression" by supplying missiles to Houthi Shi’ite rebels in Yemen.

"The missile that was intercepted by Saudi Arabia launched from Yemen, which obviously is an Iranian missile, shows precisely the strength" of Iran’s weapons program, Macron told reporters in Dubai.

The French president said that the firing of the missile showed the need to reach a new agreement on Iran’s ballistic-missile program.

"There are extremely strong concerns about Iran,” he said. “There are negotiations we need to start on Iran’s ballistic missiles.”

The US president said he would seek the removal of so-called sunset clauses, which set expiration dates for some restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program under the deal.

He threatened to withdraw the United States from the deal if his goals are not met and has repeated that threat in subsequent remarks.

التعليقات (0)

    0

    الأكثر قراءة

    💡 أهم المواضيع

    ✨ أهم التصنيفات