Saudi Arabia accused the Iranian regime on Tuesday of coveting control of the Muslim world and said dialogue with Tehran was impossible, the New York Times reported.

The Saudi criticism, made in a television interview by its defense minister, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was unusually blunt and suggested that the strained relations between Saudi Arabia and the Iranian regime may worsen, the report said.

Riyadh and Tehran support opposite sides in the wars in Syria and Yemen and a simmering conflict in Bahrain.

Saudi-Iranian relations hit a low in 2016 when the Saudis severed diplomatic relations with the mullahs’ regime after the Saudi Embassy in Tehran was stormed by rioters affiliated to the authorities.

The Saudi prince made his latest remarks about the Iranian regime in an interview with the Saudi-owned MBC television. Excerpts were distributed to Western and Arab news agencies before the broadcast of the full interview Tuesday night.

Asked if a direct dialogue is envisioned with Iran’s regime, the prince said that would be impossible because of what he described as the Iranian religious conviction that Shiites were destined to take over the Islamic world, the New York Times wrote.

“How do you have a dialogue with this?” the prince said.

Source: / ncr-iran /