IFP- “Britain is the world’s second arms exporter, and Saudi Arabia purchases most of them; we can even call Saudi Arabia the world’s number-one purchaser of weapons,” said Hamid Reza Assefi, a former spokesman for the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Referring to a recent visit by British Prime Minister Theresa May to the Middle East, Assefi noted that Britain, which sold $5bn of weapons to Saudi Arabia last year, pursues certain objectives in the region:

“It seeks to save its bankrupt military industry and economy; to boost its market by creating division and rivalry between regional countries; and to exploit the gap between them, caused by the current conflict between the US and Russia.”

“While the US is caught in Syrian war’s quagmire, Britain is silently exploiting the situation of region,” he added in a Farsi interview with Khabar Online.

The Iranian diplomat went on to say that by offering assistance to regional adversaries of Iran, English officials are after reviving their political figure in the region for further exploitations.

“Britain has left the European Union, so it won’t act within the EU’s framework anymore.”

“Now Britain is shaping its own policies. It doesn’t formulate joint policies with the EU from now on, so it will resume the traditional deceitful policies towards Iran, namely the tricky interventions,” he added.

“Of course Britain isn’t as powerful as it was once; the world has changed as well. The nations have woken up and won’t allow Britain to interfere in their affairs. Political instruments have also evolved, so the old English ways won’t be effective anymore,” he noted.