NEW DELHI: US secretary of state Marco Rubio, in the presence of minister of external affairs S Jaishankar, launched a scathing attack on Iran, calling it “the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism”.“Look what they are doing now. They are holding hostage civilian vessels, including ships that have now been stuck in the Persian Gulf,” said Rubio, adding that the Donald Trump administration would never allow Iran to have nuclear weapons.“This is an Iran that has organised the assassinations and attempted assassinations of people all over the world, including civilians and dissidents and people they don’t agree with. There is no nation on earth that sponsors more terrorism than Iran. And they have spent millions and millions of dollars sponsoring terrorism and targeting individuals all over the world,” he added.The Iranian embassy here rejected Rubio’s remarks, saying what was currently “disrupting and threatening maritime security and the passage of vessels” in Strait of Hormuz were the “military, provocative, and adventurist actions of the US and the Zionist regime in the region”. “These two regimes are the principal drivers behind the escalation of global security and energy crises and seek to advance their political and military objectives through the creation of instability and insecurity,” it said.The embassy also said that Iran, “as a committed member of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, has consistently declared that its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful and remains under the supervision of International Atomic Energy Agency”.
