Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud emphasized the importance of regional cooperation to confront the aggressive policies of intervention by the Islamic Republic of Iran. During a Gulf Cooperation Council summit in the Saudi capital Riyadh, the King of Saudi Arabia urged the leaders of the Council’s member-states, which include: Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, to maintain a united front to prevent Tehran’s active production of ballistic missiles – capable of carrying nuclear payloads.
The comments by the Saudi Monarch came after the Head of the Islamic Republic Revolutionary Guards’ aerospace division boasted in Iran’s developing capabilities to build ballistic missiles with a broader range. The Iranian semi-official Fars News agency quoted commander Amirali Hajizadeh as praising the current range of the Islamic Republic’s ballistic missiles, which can reach up-to 2,000 kilometers. While the growing range of Iran’s ballistic missiles could potentially reach Israel, Saudi Arabia and parts of Europe; General Hajizadeh underscore that ‘many enemy bases are within 800 kilometers of the Islamic Republic’, in a statement perceived as a vague threat toward the United States, which maintains several military installations in the region, including bases located 800 kilometers or less from the Islamic Republic of Iran.