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Saudi Arabia Dismisses WikiLeaks Memos | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Riyadh,(Agencies) – A Saudi Foreign Ministry spokesman has dismissed the recently leaked U.S. diplomatic memos.

According to statements carried by the Saudi media on Tuesday, Saudi Foreign Ministry spokesman Osama al-Naqli said the WikiLeaks memos “do not concern us.”

Al-Naqli went on to say that the kingdom has no insight into the authenticity of the documents and could not comment on them.

The Leaked U.S. diplomatic memos highlighted the depth of alarm across the Middle East over the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran that has never been expressed publicly.

One message said Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa — whose nation hosts the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet — “argued forcefully for taking action to terminate their (Iran’s) nuclear program, by whatever means necessary.”

Another quoted Zeid Rifai, then president of the Jordanian senate, telling a U.S. official that the options are to either “bomb Iran, or live with an Iranian bomb. Sanctions, carrots, incentives won’t matter.”

Another memo quoted Saudi King Abdullah allegedly saying, “Iran’s goal is to cause problems.””There is no doubt something unstable about them … May God prevent us from falling victim to their evil.”

Sheik Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the crown prince in the UAE’s emirate of Abu Dhabi, called Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad “young and aggressive” and believed “this guy is going to take us to war. … It’s a matter of time.”

Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak was described as referring repeatedly to Iranians as “liars” and denouncing them for trying to export a Shiite “revolution” across the mostly Sunni Muslim Middle East.

On Monday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called the leaked U.S. diplomatic memos “worthless” and ‘mischief” which would not affect Tehran’s relations with its Arab neighbors.