New York - Fars
The Obama administration has moved its confrontation with Iran to the floor of the UN General Assembly, but this time through a regional Arab proxy.Earlier this week, Washington decided to press its grievances against the Islamic republic on the diplomatic front. Saudi Arabia, a nation noted for its almost invisible presence at the UN, moved out of the traditional shadows and submitted a draft resolution against Iran only on the basis of the last month US allegations about Iran\'s involvement in a plot against the life of a Saudi envoy in Washington. The resolution, while sponsored by Riyadh, had no co-sponsors and most diplomats in New York have no doubt that Washington was the force behind the move. While not confirming that, the State Department would not deny its partnership in drafting the General Assembly resolution. Using strong language such as \"deplores\" and \"condemns,\" the Saudi draft stops just short of recommending actions such as economic or military sanctions, as it knows that nobody would buy its words and demands without providing substantiating evidence, or at least one single proof, for such a shocking accusation. Most diplomats see the Saudi sponsored resolution as a complementary move to the US push at the UN nuclear watchdog agency, IAEA, against Iran and its plot at the UN human rights council again against Tehran on human rights allegations, and interestingly all these moves are based on simple allegation and no proof. A vote on the Saudi draft is expected on Friday, although the resolution, at maximum, does not call for anything but Iran\'s cooperation with an investigation into the case, meaning that the resolution, like its peer at the IAEA, does not condemn Iran for doing anything wrong and does not call for any sanctions, as desired by the US and Israel. Yet, Iran was not silent. Tehran\'s UN Ambassador Mohammad Khazayee sent a strongly worded letter of complaint to General Assembly President Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser of Qatar and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. While the draft resolution only lists Saudi Arabia as its sponsor, the Iranian letter refers to the document as in reality a \"US proposal\". Tehran\'s representative called the allegations of an assassination plot \"hypothetical, circumstantial and unsubstantiated.\" He explained that the \"United States attitude to the alleged plot began with an explosive media campaign against Iran ... Its long-standing hostile policy is nonconstructive and reveals once again ill intentions.\" The letter once rejected Washington\'s claims concerning Tehran\'s involvement in any assassination plot: \"My government categorically rejects the involvement of any of its officials or organs in the alleged plot against the ambassador of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia in Washington as it had been claimed.\" The ambassador closed his letter with a warning: \"Member states should be cautious about the adverse consequences of such a move, which is in contradiction to the spirit and letter of the charter of the United Nations.\" A visiting Iranian official, Mohammad Javad Larijani, who heads Iran\'s High Council for Human Rights, told reporters in New York: \"American policy in the region is falling apart, it is witnessing drastic failures, specially in Afghanistan.\" Larijani also cautioned Washington against trying to exploit the growing unrest in Syria: \"Any incitement to violence by the United States and Western countries and regional countries to export and send armed groups inside Syria or to recommend that people use guns in the uprising is very dangerous.\"