Washington (AFP) - The
West's policies on Iran and Syria are a "dangerous gamble" and Saudi
Arabia is prepared to act on its own to safeguard security in the
region, a top Saudi diplomat said.
"We believe
that many of the West’s policies on both Iran and Syria risk the
stability and security of the Middle East," the Saudi ambassador to
Britain, Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf bin Abdulaziz, wrote in a commentary
in the New York Times.
"This is a dangerous gamble, about which we cannot remain silent, and will not stand idly by," he wrote.
The
bluntly-worded warning was the latest in a series of public statements
by senior Saudi figures expressing displeasure with US and Western
diplomatic initiatives towards Syria and Iran.
Until recently, Saudi leaders rarely voiced public criticism of their Western allies in a decades-long partnership.
But
Washington's decision to pull back from military action in Syria and
its backing for an interim nuclear deal with Iran has dismayed the
oil-rich Saudi kingdom, which views Tehran as a dangerous regional
rival.
Citing Iran's backing for Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad's regime, he said "rather than challenging the Syrian and
Iranian governments, some of our Western partners have refused to take
much-needed action against them.
"The
West has allowed one regime to survive and the other to continue its
program for uranium enrichment, with all the consequent dangers of
weaponization," he wrote.
Diplomatic talks with Iran may "dilute" the West's will to confront both Damascus and Tehran, he said.
"What price is 'peace' though, when it is made with such regimes?"
As
a result, Saudi Arabia "has no choice but to become more assertive in
international affairs: more determined than ever to stand up for the
genuine stability our region so desperately needs."
The
Gulf monarchy had "global responsibilities," both political and
economic, and he said: "We will act to fulfill these responsibilities,
with or without the support of our Western partners."
In
a thinly veiled jab at US President Barack Obama, the Saudi ambassador
said that "for all their talk of 'red lines,' when it counted, our
partners have seemed all too ready to concede our safety and risk our
region’s stability."
Obama had
used the term "red lines" to warn Syria's regime against using chemical
weapons. After the regime was accused of firing chemical weapons, Obama
threatened punitive military strikes. But in the end he pursued a
diplomatic agreement in which Damascus promised to give up its lethal
arsenal of chemical agents.
The
Saudi ambassador slammed the West for its reluctance to offer decisive
help to Syrian rebels, vowing to continue support for the Free Syrian
Army and the "Syrian opposition."
Acknowledging
the threat of Al-Qaeda-linked groups in Syria, he argued the best way
to counter the rise of extremists among the rebels was to support the
"champions of moderation."
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