Saudi crown prince rules out compromise with Iran

Mecca, Nov 1: Saudi Crown Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz on Tuesday ruled out any compromise with Iran over allegations of Iranian involvement in a plot to murder the Saudi ambassador to Washington.

"There can be no compromise with Iran concerning the assassination bid because there is no need for it," the crown prince, who also holds the interior ministry portfolio, told a news conference in Mecca. "We are ready to deal with any scenario... with any means necessary," he added without further details during an inspection tour of preparations for the annual hajj Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, Islams' holiest site.

Iran has fiercely and repeatedly denied any involvement in the alleged plot, which the United States said implicated an Iranian-American car salesman in custody and Iranian officials in a plan to hire a Mexican drug cartel to kill the Saudi ambassador to Washington.

Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem Al-Thani proposed on Sunday that Saudi and Iranian officials should meet over the alleged plot, the official Qatari news agency QNA reported.

"I think that the best and easiest way to solve this issue is for the two sides to meet," Sheikh Hamad said after talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi in Doha. "The Islamic Republic of Iran and Saudi Arabia are two big nations and should have good relations," he said, adding that he hoped the US allegations against Iran would be proven false.

"We are part of the Gulf Cooperation Council, and we have an interest in the security and stability of Saudi Arabia. We hope that it is false," he said. "We still wait for evidence."

AFP