US ambassador to Saudi Arabia: Iran uses various militias to ‘fight their fight’

The US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia John Abizaid said that Iran meddles in nearly every country in the region via “various militias that are under Iranian control.”

“The Iranians are always ready to have somebody else fight their fight. You see it with Hezbollah in Lebanon, you see it with the various militias that are under Iranian control in Iraq, you see it with the Houthis, unfortunately, in Yemen,” Abizaid told Al Arabiya during an exclusive interview.

“I don’t think it adds strength to the Iranian position. At the end of the day, sowing difficulty, causing terrorism, building opportunity to damage places, only detracts from the greatness of a country. Our problem is not with the Iranian people, our problem is with these policies that bring terrorism to places that don’t need to have terrorism, that don’t allow us to move towards a better future, that don’t allow there to be a peaceful understanding between nations,” he said.

Abizaid was confirmed as the US ambassador to Saudi Arabia in April, filling an important diplomatic post that has been vacant for more than two years.

He said that Washington would welcome an opportunity to talk with the Iranians but said that Tehran needs to “first stop their meddling in nearly every country in the region.”

“They make money, the IRGC Quds Force makes money off of chaos, and this is not good for the people in the region. It feeds extremism, it works against everything we’re trying to stop,” he said.