Germany fleeces Persian Gulf states to protect Israel: Vahidi

Iran defense minister says the justification given by his German counterpart, Thomas de Maiziere, for selling arms to the Arab states in the Persian Gulf is Berlin’s confession to the pillage of the regional states for protecting Israel.

“Such remarks reveal the evil and treacherous intentions of the West against the regional nations and show that the annual sales of billions of dollars of arms [to the Arab states] by the US, Britain, Germany and France is only aimed to defend the interests of the West and the Zionist regime [of Israel], not to defend regional people,” Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi said on Saturday.

Vahidi’s remarks came in response to Germany’s Defense Minister Thomas de Maiziere’s statement on Wednesday who said that Berlin’s arms sales to the Arab states of the Persian Gulf region are aimed at protecting Israel.

De Maiziere added that defending Israel against Iran is more important than the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia.

Germany has been strongly criticized for the dramatic increase in arms sales to Arab states like Saudi Arabia, despite their poor human rights record.

The Iranian defense minister also noted that Maiziere’s remarks show that the West views human rights as a tool to advance its anti-human purposes, with no other values.

According to a report published by the Munich-based Suddeutsche Zeitung newspaper on February 22, Germany’s weapons exports to the Arab states in the Persian Gulf reached 1.42 billion euros (USD1.88 billion) in 2012.

The report added that Saudi Arabia was the biggest buyer of arms among the Persian Gulf states including Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.