Saudi Arabia expresses full support for measures, sanctions to limit Iran's hostile movements- UN mission

New York, 18th October, 2017 (WAM) -- The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia emphasised its full support for any measures and sanctions that would limit Iran's aggressive moves and interference in the countries of the region.

The kingdom regretted Iran's misuse of the economic benefits of lifting the sanctions after the nuclear agreement and its use to continue destabilising the region and developing its ballistic missile programme and support for terrorism in the region, including Hezbollah, Houthi militias in Yemen and armed militias in Syria.

This came in a statement today by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at the United Nations in response to the report of the Special Rapporteur on the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures on the enjoyment of human rights as part of the work of the Committee on Humanitarian, Social and Cultural Rights. The statement was delivered by the Deputy Head of the Permanent Mission of the kingdom to the United Nations Dr. Khalid Manzlawi.

Commenting on the report and regarding the Gaza Strip, Dr. Khaled Manzlawi stressed the kingdom's steadfast and firm position in condemning all forms of Israeli occupation of Palestine and all Arab territories, the kingdom's keenness to lift the siege on our brothers in the Gaza Strip and calling upon the international community to fulfill its commitments to ensure the security and safety of the Palestinian people and condemn all forms of occupation and the lifting of the unjust Israeli siege imposed on it.

Concerning the measures applied to the State of Qatar, The deputy head of the Permanent Mission of the United Kingdom to the United Nations said, "We would like to emphasise the Special Rapporteur's acknowledgment that these measures do not constitute a blockade because they do not affect Qatar's reciprocal transactions with third parties. The measures taken in this crisis are within the relevant rules of international law. It is a sovereign right of my country to take whatever it deems appropriate for the sake of its national security. We urge Qatar to cooperate in eliminating the scourge of extremism and terrorism rather than harboring and funding it, and implementing the commitments it has signed in the Riyadh Accords 2013-2014 and stop interference in the affairs of other countries and destabilize neighboring countries.'' ''Qatar's attempts to internationalise this crisis will not contribute to solutions, but may complicate them further. Qatar must realise that these policies are unacceptable, and we hope that wisdom will prevail in Qatar and respond to the demands of the international community."The deputy head of the Permanent Mission of the United Kingdom to the United Nations said, "As for Yemen, I would like to emphasise the support for the approach of the solution provided by the UN envoy to the crisis in Yemen on the port of Hodeidah, which establishes two committees; the first administrative and financial and the second technical, that take control of the port and obtain the revenues of the operations it is witnessing and transfer it to the account of the Yemeni government, ensure that the port is not used by the Houthi militias to smuggle weapons, and lift the siege imposed by these militias. "