Iran's Foreign Minister Criticizes 'Wahhabism' in New York Times Op-Ed

Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran's Foreign Minister, has sharply criticized the leaders of Saudi Arabia and 'Wahhabism' in an op-ed published in the American newspaper 'New York Times'. He states that the leaders of that country use the 'Iran card' to encourage their allies to join them in the wars in Syria and Yemen. In the op-ed published on September 14 (U.S. time), Zarif claims that since the terrorist attacks of September 11, Wahhabism - as described by the Iranian Foreign Minister - has changed its face several times, but its core ideology has 'not changed'. According to Zarif, this form of takfir has led to the creation of the Taliban, 'reproduced branches of al-Qaeda', or the 'Islamic State'. Zarif has strongly criticized the dissemination of statements or images regarding changes in the group 'Jabhat al-Nusra', which is considered a branch of al-Qaeda in Syria and has recently claimed to have separated from al-Qaeda, changing its name to 'Jabhat Fath al-Sham'. However, the Iranian Foreign Minister believes that 'advertising companies', which are 'mainly Saudi', have initiated a 'new project' to 'moderate' this group. In another part of the op-ed in the New York Times, Zarif writes that Saudi leaders are using the 'Iran card' to encourage their allies to join them and are trying to show that 'more chaos' harms Iran. He states that extremists have committed massacres against Christians, Jews, Yazidis, Shiites, and 'other apostates' in the region, and it is the Sunni Arabs of the region who have had to endure the most damage from 'Wahhabism'. In his op-ed, Zarif emphasizes more than once that Saudi leaders are seeking to control the region by creating a - according to Zarif - 'illusory' threat from Iran. In another part of this op-ed, Zarif states that 'Wahhabism is a very small part of Muslims', but 'almost all terrorist groups' influenced by this ideology. He has called on the United Nations to coordinate and engage in efforts to combat this ideology. Zarif ultimately added that he does 'not at all' propose excluding Saudi Arabia from the 'solution' to combat terrorism; rather, he calls for that country to stop creating fear and propaganda and to cooperate with the 'international community against terrorism'. Zarif's op-ed is the latest in a series of statements, reactions, and severe verbal attacks between Iranian and Saudi officials over the past years. Iran and Saudi Arabia are recognized as the main rivals in almost all existing crises in the region, supporting opposing groups. Last January, Zarif also accused Saudi Arabia in an op-ed in the 'New York Times' of trying to undermine the nuclear agreement and escalate tensions in the region. He stated that the real threat arising from support for 'violent extremists' is Saudi Arabia. Shortly after that, the Saudi Foreign Minister also responded in the New York Times, claiming that his country is a 'victim of terrorism' from Iranian supporters. Adel al-Jubeir wrote in his op-ed that the Iranian government is recognized as a 'state sponsor of terrorism' and covers several extremist groups such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, Houthis in Yemen, or extremist militias in Iraq. With the publication of Zarif's latest op-ed, Saudi officials are likely to react again. Hours before the publication of this op-ed, Reuters reported that the Emir of Qatar had spoken with Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, and called for improvement in relations between Iran and the Gulf Arabs.