Saudi defense minister to make first visit to Iran
TEHRAN, March 10 (AFP) - Saudi Arabia's defense minister, Prince Sultan
ibn Abdel Aziz, will make the first-ever visit by a Saudi defense chief
to Iran in April, the Iranian defense ministry said Wednesday.
"The visit will help strengthen cooperation between the two nations
and create an atmosphere of greater trust," ministry spokesman Keyvan
Khosravi said, quoted by the official news agency IRNA.
The Saudi defense minister will bring a high-level military and political
delegation for talks with Iranian officials, he said.
The spokesman also reiterated Tehran's opposition to the "massive
and useless" US military presence in the region, calling it the "primary
obstacle to friendly cooperation between Gulf nations."
He also accused US Defense Secretary William Cohen of trying to push
problems between Israel and the Palestinians "onto other parts of
the Middle East."
"This policy will no longer work," he said.
Cohen, who concluded a Gulf tour Wednesday, told both Bahrain and Saudi
Arabia that they could purchase sophisticated AMRAAM "fire and forget"
air-to-air missiles previously available only to NATO nations, in the face
of mounting US concern over Iran's missile program.
The United Arab Emirates previously had won approval to buy them.
In visits to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, the UAE, Qatar and Kanjani
and Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi visited Saudi Arabia last year.
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