NCRI Staff
NCRI – The Iranian Regime and its regional expansionism and aggression was a key talking point during a meeting between US House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan and Saudi King Salman in Riyadh, on Wednesday.
The two high-ranking politicians met at Al-Yamamah Palace to discuss bilateral issues and regional stability, which included the issue of keeping Iranian interference in check to ensure regional peace and security.
Ashlee Strong, Ryan’s personal spokesperson, said: “The bipartisan congressional delegation is pleased to be welcomed to the Saudi Arabia to discuss the United States’ shared interests in regional stability and combating terrorism and Iranian aggression.”
Iranian aggression in the Middle East takes on many different forms. The Regime uses its proxy militias to destabilise other countries to an extent that Iran can swoop in and secretly take control (Iraq, Lebanon), stops the legitimate overthrow of an aggressive dictator against the wishes of its people and making the dictator beholden to them (Syria), and uses its proxies to destabilise one country whilst launching missiles at another (the Houthis in Yemen).
The most pressing on these problems for Saudi Arabia is undoubtedly the Houthis in Yemen. This Iran-back terrorist group is destabilising Yemen by taking over the capital, removing the internationally-recognised government, assassinating its own choice for leader when he tried to arrange peace talks, and launching Iranian-made ballistic missiles at Saudi Arabia.
This last point is particularly galling because it means that Iran is violating two UN resolutions; one enshrining the nuclear deal that calls on Iran not to test ballistic missiles and one that calls on the world not to arm the Houthis.
Worse than breaking these resolutions, is the potential loss of life involved. Over 80 missiles have been fired at Saudi Arabia by the Houthis since the start of the Yemeni conflict and if they were not intercepted by Saudi defence systems, then hundreds of thousands of people could have died.
Last week, US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said: “[Iran] provides ballistic missiles in violation of UN arms embargoes. Its proxies launch them at civilian targets, as we saw when Houthi militias in Yemen fired an Iranian-supplied missile at an airport in Riyadh… [Simply, Iran is] the leading cause of instability in an unstable part of the world.”
Ryan, who was accompanied by a number of heads of committees, deputies and advisers at the House of Representatives, also met with Shoura Council chairman Sheikh Abdullah Al-Asheikh, according to a spokesperson from the US Embassy in Riyadh.
After the Riyadh meetings, Ryan went to Jeddah to discuss increased diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and the US.
