The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia said it stands by its commitment to the UN Programme of Action to Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons, underlining its efforts to fight weapons smuggling.
Speaking on Monday before the First Committee of the UN General Assembly’s 71st special session on conventional weapons, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Saudi delegation to the United Nations, Counsellor Saad bin Abdullah Al-Saad gave an example of the Kingdom’s fight against smugglers of weapons, talking about his country’s smashing the terrorist cells related to Iran that used to smuggle weapons and explosives into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Kuwait.
Al-Saad said that the Kingdom is “deeply concerned by the extremely dangerous humanitarian, economic and social effects of illicit trafficking in small arms and light weapons, and calls on the international community to make every possible effort and cooperate to address this dangerous phenomenon, while emphasizing Saudi Arabia’s unwavering commitment to the UN Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons”.
He added: “My country, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, has suffered from the remnants of the Gulf War in its northeastern and northern regions, and from the smuggling of weapons into the Kingdom through its southern borders and their use in terrorist operations aimed at destabilizing the security and killing civilians, but the Kingdom has worked to defuse and destroy these explosives in cooperation with specialists, and fought against the smuggling of weapons by arresting terrorist cells related to Iran, which smuggled weapons and explosives into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Kingdom of Bahrain and Kuwait.”
Moreover, Al-Saad highlighted Iran’s sectarian support, which is responsible for many conflicts in the region, through provision of arms to militias and terrorist groups.
This support proves that Iran is bent on “spreading destruction and devastation and fueling sectarianism in several countries, raising the question: Is Iran a state that respects international law or it is a revolution that it want to export to other countries,” added Al-Saad.
Iran’s involvement in other countries’ affairs is obvious in its support with weapons for the terrorist Lebanese organization Hezbollah, and in the mercenaries it sends to fight in countries like Syria and Yemen.
Iran harbored Al-Qaeda leaders, providing them with weapons and supporting their sabotage missions in the region’s countries, said Al-Saad, adding that Tehran also takes advantage of the difficult conditions of Afghan refugees who are living in Iran, exploiting them horrendously, recruiting and arming them forcibly before dispatching them to zones of conflict, especially to Syria, to kill people under sectarian slogans.
Iran, he said, formed squads of mercenaries under the direct supervision of its Revolutionary Guards, which it sent to Syria to commit massacres against the Syrian people. Among these terrorist groups are (Fatima, Zainab and Abu Al-Fadhl Al-Abbas Brigades), all responsible for committing massacres against the Syrian people.
It also provided sectarian militias in Iraq with weapons to stir up sedition among the brotherly Iraqi people.
The deputy permanent representative of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the UN added that a glaring examples of Iran’s interference in the affairs of other countries is its financial and military backing of the Houthi militias in Yemen, in clear violation of Security Council resolutions 2216 and 2231, adding that examples of Iran’s subversive weapon smuggling to terrorist groups are numerous.
Al-Saad said that Iran has been listed as a top state sponsoring terrorism, adding that the Kingdom has the sovereign right to protect its national security and secure its borders against repeated violations by Houthi militias and their allies who launch missiles smuggled from Iran against the Kingdom.
He also stressed that countries have the obligation to adhere to the provisions of the UN Charter and the principles of international law, noting that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia strongly believes in the importance of strengthening the role of the United Nations in all areas, especially with regard to issues of international peace, security and disarmament.

Source: Arab News