Tillerson calls on Rouhani to stop Iran’s ballistic missile tests
Tehran(Basirat): US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson (L) and Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir hold a press conference in Riyadh on May 20, 2017.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has called on Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to end the country’s ballistic missile tests in what is Washington’s first reaction to his re-election.
![Tillerson calls on Rouhani to stop Iran’s ballistic missile tests Tillerson calls on Rouhani to stop Iran’s ballistic missile tests](/files/en/news/2017/5/21/11182_648.jpg)
Tillerson made the remarks during a joint news conference with his Saudi
counterpart on Saturday following Rouhani’s landslide election victory and
winning a second term in office through presidential polls held on Friday.
He repeated a Western accusation that Iran supports terrorism, saying, "What I
would hope, is that Rouhani... use that (new) term to begin a process of
dismantling Iran's network of terrorism, dismantling its financing of the
terrorist network, dismantling the manning and the logistics and everything that
they provide to these destabilizing forces that exist in this region."
"We also hope that he puts an end to their ballistic missile testing," Tillerson
said on the first day of a visit by President Donald Trump to Saudi Arabia where
he signed a whopping $110 billion weapons deal with the Saudi kingdom.
Tehran has always said its missile tests pose no threat to any country and that
they are conducted to boost Iran’s defense capabilities, enhance national
security and promote regional peace and stability.
The United States and its allies, particularly Saudi Arabia, have always drawn
massive criticism for supporting and financing terrorist groups, which have
carried out numerous terrorist attacks in the Middle East, throughout Europe and
elsewhere.
Since 2011, the Saudi regime has also been sponsoring Takfiri terrorists
fighting against the Syrian government, which has left hundreds of thousands
dead and millions more displaced.
Trump, who arrived in Riyadh on Friday, signed an arms deal with the Saudi
kingdom that has been pounding Yemen since March 2015, an assault that has so
far left 12,000 people dead, most of them civilians.
A general view taken on March 16, 2017 shows a school damaged in a Saudi
airstrike in the southern Yemeni city of Ta’izz. (Photo by AFP)
The pact includes a $6 billion contract to assemble 150 Lockheed Martin
Blackhawk helicopters in Saudi Arabia. It also includes a $1 billion THAAD
missile system and a contract for four multi-mission warships worth $11.5
billion.
SOURCE: PressTv