(Bloomberg) -- The Iran nuclear deal empowered the country to step up the developing of traditional weapons and has created more destruction in the Middle East, the Saudi deputy defense minister said.
The Iranian regime increased the budgets of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards, Hezbollah and the Houthis, Saudi Deputy Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman said in an interview with Vice Media Saturday. “There were way more ballistic missiles launched at the Kingdom after the nuclear deal than before,” he said.
Khalid bin Salman, the brother of Mohammad bin Salman, said he supported President Donald Trump's decision to pull out of the deal and blamed Iran for the escalating regional conflicts. “What I'm saying is we might have temporarily stopped the weapon of mass destruction, but we've created more destruction basically in the Middle East,” he said.
Iran has been gradually reducing its compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, since U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned it and began reimposing sanctions on the country's economy. Earlier this month, the U.S. killed a top Iranian general in Baghdad and Iran retaliated by directing missile strikes against two U.S. military installations in Iraq.
Read More: U.S. Extends Clamp Down on Iran With Sanctions on Energy Firms
To contact the reporter on this story: Layan Odeh in Dubai at lodeh3@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Gordon Bell at gbell16@bloomberg.net, Jacqueline Mackenzie, Kasper Viita
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