Saudi summit was 'show with no value'

Iran's newly re-elected President Hassan Rouhani yesterday dismissed his US counterpart Donald Trump's summit with Arab leaders in Saudi Arabia this weekend as "just a show".

"The gathering in Saudi Arabia was just a show with no practical or political value of any kind," Rouhani said at a press conference.

In a jibe at the billion-dollar deals signed between Trump and the Saudi government, Rouhani said: "You can't solve terrorism just by giving your people's money to a superpower."

He said Friday's election in Iran that saw Rouhani convincingly defeat hardline challenger Ebrahim Raisi had been a message to the world that Tehran was ready for engagement, reported AFP.

"We wanted to tell the world that on the basis of mutual respect and shared interests, we are to ready to have interaction," he said.

Meanwhile, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman accused the United States of selling arms to "dangerous terrorists" in the Middle East and of spreading "Iranophobia" aimed at encouraging Arab states to purchase arms, reported Reuters.

"Once again, by his repetitive and baseless claims about Iran, the American president ... tried to encourage the countries of the region to purchase more arms by spreading Iranophobia," Bahram Qassemi said.

Sending a tough message to Tehran shortly after pragmatist Hassan Rouhani was re-elected president, Trump had urged Arab and Islamic leaders to unite to defeat Islamist militants.