May 07, 2017

Iran will leave no part of Saudi Arabia untouched except holy Muslim sites if Riyadh “does anything ignorant”, Iran’s defense minister was quoted as saying after a Saudi prince threatened to move the “battle” to Iran.

Iranian Defence Minister Hossein Dehghan delivers a speech during the 4th Moscow Conference on International Security (MCIS) in Moscow April 16, 2015. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin

“If the Saudis do anything ignorant, we will leave no area untouched except Mecca and Medina,” Iranian Defence Minister Hossein Dehghan was quoted by the semi-official Tasnim news agency as saying.

Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman waves as he meets with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, April 11, 2017. Bandar Algaloud/Courtesy of Saudi Royal Court/Handout via REUTERS

Dehghan, speaking to Arabic-language Al-Manar TV, was commenting on remarks by Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who said on Tuesday any struggle for influence between the Sunni Muslim kingdom and the revolutionary Shi’ite theocracy ought to take place “inside Iran, not in Saudi Arabia”.

(Reporting by Dubai Newsroom, Editing by William Maclean and Angus MacSwan)