Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir affirmed that Iran is the first sponsor of terrorism in the world, pointing out that this is not only the classification of the Kingdom but also the international community which has placed Iran under strict sanctions by the United Nations, the United States and a number of other countries. In a press statement on the sidelines of the emergency meeting of the Council of the Arab League at the level of foreign ministers held in Cairo today, he called on the international community to confront the Iranian moves. "The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is grateful to the Arab countries that responded to its request to hold the extraordinary meeting to consider Iran's aggressive interference against Arab countries," he said. "The kingdom has suffered a great deal and the Arab countries have suffered from Iranian interference since the Khomeini revolution in 1979," he said, adding that Iran had stormed embassies, kidnapped diplomats, planted terrorist cells and now created terrorist militias such as Houthi and Hezbollah. Al-Jubair pointed out that Iran supported a terrorist operation in 1996 in Al-Khobar, and is also involved in the Riyadh bombings in 2003. Iran also hosts leaders of terrorist organizations. He added, "Iran is violating Security Council resolutions 2216 and 2231 on preventing the handover of weapons to the rebel militia in Yemen and the smuggling of ballistic missiles." He pointed out that Iran fired a ballistic missile through its agents in Yemen towards the city of Riyadh, which was intercepted, describing it as an act of terrorism and aggression against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He stressed that the Kingdom has the right to reply in a timely manner, stressing that the Kingdom will not stand idly by towards the Iranian interventions in its affairs and in the Kingdom of Bahrain and its support for terrorism. He pointed out that there are Iranian interventions in several countries in the region, including Lebanon, Kuwait, Bahrain, Yemen and Egypt, calling on Iran to stop its interference in the affairs of the countries of the region.
