TEHRAN (Dispatches) – President Hassan Rouhani says Iran could restore its relations with Saudi Arabia should the kingdom end its military aggression on Yemen and cut its friendship with the Tel Aviv regime.
Speaking at the parliament in Tehran on Sunday, Rouhnai said the Islamic Republic would have no problem with Saudi Arabia if it stopped "bowing to Israel" and relied on itself and regional nations.
"Saudi Arabia should suspend it bombardment of Yemen and stop begging for contacts with the Zionist regime," he said. "We want Saudi Arabia to stop two things, the misguided friendship with Israel and the inhuman bombardment of Yemen."
Relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia first soured after a deadly human crush during the Hajj rituals in September 2015, when hundreds of Iranian pilgrims among others lost their lives.
Tensions further escalated a few months later following the kingdom's execution of prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.
Riyadh cut off diplomatic ties with Tehran in January 2016 following angry protests in front of its diplomatic premises in the cities of Tehran and Mashhad against the execution.
Elsewhere in his address, the Iranian president referred to U.S. President Donald Trump's recent controversial decision on al-Quds, saying the move won't go unanswered.
"After regional powers' conspiracy to let terrorist groups dominate the oppressed people in the region was defeated, the Americans today have launched a new plot with the help of the Zionists, which is an aggression on the sacred Quds," Rouhani said.
"We were not, are not and will not be silent in the face of the conspiracies of the big powers, the U.S., the arrogance and the Zionism ," Rouhani pointed out.
Trump on Wednesday declared that the U.S. was recognizing al-Quds as the "capital” of the Zionist regime and had instructed his administration to begin the process of moving the American embassy from Tel Aviv to the ancient city.
Yaacov Nagel, who stepped down as Zionist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s internal security adviser earlier this year, said last month that Saudi Arabia was ready to sacrifice Palestinians and their demands for closer ties with the regime.
On Friday, Reuters cited Palestinian officials as expressing worries that Saudi Arabia was acting behind the scenes to advance a United States "grand bargain” over the Zionist-Palestinian conflict that heavily favored regime.
Four Palestinian officials told the agency on condition of anonymity that the Saudi crown prince had communicated a proposal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that would give away the right of return for Palestinian refugees and the status of al-Quds as the capital of a future Palestinian state in return for conditions unfavorable to the Palestinians.