BEIRUT: Tehran’s animosity towards the United States has been replaced with hostility towards Arabs, the Future bloc said Tuesday.
“[Iran] used to consider the U.S. to be the Great Satan and [considered] a deal with America to be a great betrayal," read a statement released by the bloc after their weekly meeting.
“Today [Iran] is defending its agreement with the Great Satan and has shifted its attack onto Arabs..., especially Saudi Arabia.”
Commenting on nuclear talks between Tehran and world powers, the bloc said that it welcomed any step that would clear the Middle East of weapons of mass destruction. But it noted that there was a need to incorporate a change to Iran’s regional policy in any agreement reached with Western powers.
“Iran must stop exporting sectarian strife and storms of fanaticism and [end] its dreams of empire,” the statement read. It should move on to playing a positive role based on a respect of sovereignty, and international law and friendly ties with neighboring countries.
The bloc lauded remarks made Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi last week, in which he said that securing the Bab al-Mandab access to the Red Sea off Yemen's coast is a top priority for Egypt's national security.
These remarks serve to show that the Saudi-led intervention against Houthi rebels in Yemen is an expression of an Arab will to confront Iranian expansion in region, the bloc said.
The bloc also called for the swift release of Lebanese truck drivers who were kidnapped by Syrian rebels at the Nasib crossing on the Syrian-Jordanian border last week, saying that the abduction served the interests of the Syrian regime and “enemies of the Syrian people.”
The crossing was taken over by Syrian rebels last Wednesday, one day after it was shut from the Jordanian side over security concerns.
Blocking the crossings is expected to deal a heavy blow to the Lebanese economy which depends on the crossing for the export of products to Syria, Jordan and other parts of the region.
The bloc called for the provision of alternative sea routes that would allow farmers to sell their products.
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