Iran hits back at Trump speech in Saudi Arabia

Donald Trump during his speech in Riyadh (AFP)

There's been significant blowback in Iran to a speech by Donald Trump during his visit to Saudi Arabia yesterday. Iran accused the US on Monday of selling arms to "dangerous terrorists" in the Middle East and of spreading "Iranophobia" to encourage Arab states to buy weapons.

"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," said Bahram Qassemi, a foreign ministry spokesman.

The US president ended a visit to Tehran's arch-foe Saudi Arabia where arms deals worth almost $110bn were signed.

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, and said Iran had for decades "fuelled the fires of sectarian conflict and terrors".

Qassemi said Washington was "reinvigorating terrorists in the region by its hostile policies" and "should stop selling arms to dangerous terrorists".

He said the United States and its allies "should know that Iran is a democratic, stable and powerful country" and that it promoted "peace, good neighbourliness, and the creation of a world opposed to violence and extremism".