Saudi Arabia’s King Salman and U.S. President Donald Trump took turns launching scathing attacks on Iran, which the Sunni monarch called the “spearhead of global terrorism,” underscoring a common goal in undercutting the Islamic Republic’s regional influence.
The king said on Sunday Saudi Arabia had not witnessed terrorism until the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran. Instead of accepting good-faith initiatives, Iran has “pursued expansionary ambitions, and criminal practices and the meddling of other countries’ internal affairs,” he said. The kingdom, however, respects the Iranian people and won’t judge them “by the crimes of their regime,” he said.