Rafsanjani urges better ties with Saudi Arabia

TEHRAN - Agence France-Presse

Iran should forge better ties with regional rival Saudi Arabia to counter Western sanctions on Iranian oil, a former president who now chairs an advisory body to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei urged yesterday. “If we had good relations with Saudi Arabia, would the West have been able to impose sanctions (on Iran’s oil)?” Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani asked in the latest issue of the International Studies Journal. “Only Saudi Arabia could fill the void left by Iran. (All they need do is) produce oil within their OPEC quota, and then no one would be able to harass us,” he said. Saudi Arabia, a U.S. ally that is also the biggest OPEC producer, is facilitating Western sanctions by promising to tap its spare capacity to make up for any imposed shortfall of Iranian oil exports.