Iran’s Rouhani: Enmity toward Iran hides Saudi failures

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani says Saudi Arabia’s revamped enmity toward Tehran is a coverup for the kingdom’s domestic and regional failures.

Rouhani claimed in a live TV interview Tuesday that the kingdom has two main problems — regional issues, such as the war it’s waging in Yemen, and also major domestic problems.

Tensions have spiked between the mostly Sunni kingdom and the Shiite power Iran after Yemen’s Iran-backed rebels, known as Houthis, fired a missile that was intercepted outside Riyadh.

Along with proxy wars in Syria and Iran, the two rivals have also fought a war of words with increasing vitriol.

Rouhani says “Saudi Arabia seeks to solve two problems through enmity with Iran; first it wants to coverup its failures in the region … and second, its domestic problems.”