BEIRUT: Any move to negotiate with Israel would be an “unforgettableerror”, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday,after Saudi Arabia’s crown prince said Israelis were entitled to livepeacefully on their own land.
Saudi Arabia – birthplace of Islam and site of its holiest shrines – doesnot officially recognize Israel, but Mohammed bin Salman’s comments, quotedin the US magazine The Atlantic, are a further sign of an apparent thawingin bilateral ties.
They come as Tehran and Riyadh back opposing sides in the conflicts inYemen and Syria as well as rival political groups in Iraq and Lebanon.
“Moving towards negotiations with the deceptive, lying, & usurper regime[Israel] is an unforgettable error that will impede the victory of thePalestinian nation. The act of betrayal by some Arab heads of states— whichis gradually being revealed— pursues the same goal,” Khamenei said in astatement posted on his official website.
The statement, which did not explicitly name Saudi Arabia, said it was theduty of all Muslims to support Palestinian resistance movements and itpledged continued Iranian backing for the Palestinian group Hamas.
After the crown prince’s comments, his father King Salman reiterated SaudiArabia’s support for a Palestinian state. – Agencies